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THE 



DISSENTING WORLD 

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
BY THE KEV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A., 

Congregational Minister of Twenty-five Years' Standing. 



" Some of the Pharisees said unto Him: — ' Are we blind also V ' 
(John ix. 40.) 



" Tile igitur numquam direxit brachia contra 

" Torrentem : nee civis erat, qui libera posset 

'■ Verba animi proferre, et vitam impendere vero."— Juvenalis, Sat it. 

" Sapienter vitam instituit namq ; hoc tempore 

" Obsequium amicos, Veritas odium, parity — Terentii Andria. * 



LONDON : 

W. Macintosh, Paternoster Bow. 

SHEFFIELD : 

Pawson and Beailsford, High Street and Mulberry Street. ) 
1869. 



£X7z<^ 
. (37 A4 



-? v 



o- H 'i 



THE DISSENTING WORLD : AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. 



When I began this life I did not know how it would end. 

A critical lady posed me at Christmas with the question — How I should put 
an end to my life ? The assumption being that I ought not to conclude with a 
semicolon, like the one described by T. Carlyle, who died with an unfinished 
sentence on his lips — " Aber " " But," — 

Indeed, as even a novel requires a catastrophe to render it absorbing, something 
of this kind seemed required to put a period to my Autobiography. 

This was provided by the officials of the Congregational Union, by an act 
which Dr. Pakker described to the Assembly of that Union, in Sheffield, 
1866, as " amounting to ministerial deposition ; in fact, a species of 

EXCOMMUNICATION, and FRAUGHT WITH THE GRAVEST CONSEQUENCES to indi- 
vidual ministers." 

That act was "the removal of a name" from the list of accredited Con- 
gregational Ministers, which, so far as can be done by the Union, deprives the 
minister of status and usefulness, and his children of bread. If at the time when 
the axe falls he is out of a pastorate, as I am, it is next to impossible to get into 
one again. His reputation is gnawn at, and his persecutors are bound to malign 
him in honour to themselves, as their only safe and consistent course : and all 
that is said, like all that is done, is, " What the ancients of the house of Israel 
do in the dark." (Ez. viii. 12.) 

As the Rev. Dr. F adding, of Rotherham College, observed of a similar case — in 
which he was accused by the editor of the Year Book of being the executioner, 
— though this term is properly applied to one who acts by legal authority — " The 
other side of this case had never been made public." The reason for avoiding 
publicity is founded on a text of Scripture : — John iii. 20. 

I was not aware that this act had been perpetrated, at the very time I was 
asked what end I should put to my life ? 

I learned my ministerial execution by obtaining, through the post, a copy of 
the " Congregational Year Book for 1869." 

It was a secret execution by the Congregational Inquisition — it executed 

C ONGRE GATIONALISM. 

If any should wonder that I place my death before my life, the answer is — 
that this is the style of the noble army of martyrs. 

Undoubtedly it is in every sense reversing the ordinary course of events, and 
contrary to the usual literary construction of a book, wbich should leave the 



IV. ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

interest to accumulate to the end, to see " how it will turn out." But then it 
may awaken a new sort of interest, namely, the curiosity to learn why it should 
turn out so ? 

The reader is therefore requested to examine the course of my life, in order 
to account for the manner of my death. Providentially my passport has been 
viseed, — examined and signed as correct, — at every frontier through which I 
have passed in the tour of this world. 

Living witnesses and documentary evidence can be adduced for every fact 
alleged in this history. If any shall say that it is egotistical they must consider 
that this is an Autobiography, and that wherein I am praised it is generally by 
others, and therefore is not properly to be charged withcthis sin ; though in self- 
defence one may defend one's self. 

The highest praise is that afforded by my enemies in the " removal of my 
name from the list of accredited Congregational ministers ; " since it not only 
acknowledged that I could not be answered, but that I was important enough to 
be persecuted, and that it was necessary to silence me by the only possible 
process, that described by De Foe, whose life is very much like mine, for he 
lived in the same collision of interests, and was treated as all wits are by dull 
people ; his defences of Dissent and Protestantism against the astute- 
ness of Jesuits and the simplicity of Dissenters, were sometimes resented by 
those who, being blind, were also unwilling to be defended and guided by a man 
who could see. 

" He saw the men who could not answer Algernon Sydney's Book erect a 
scaffold to take off his head." • 

It was truly said of James the Second — " His unwearied sole endeavour 
was to establish the Boman Catholic religion in England. When the church 
that had declared resistance unchristian" did resist, " The dissenters became 
his hope. If he could array dissent against the church there was an entrance 
yet for Borne." This is Borae's only door still — in the name of liberty and 
equality — which she waits to destroy. " De Foe understood both game and 
gambler. We could name no man of the time who understood them so clearly 
as this young trader of Cornhill. He saw the false position of all parties, the 
blundering clash of interests, the wily complications of policy."* " He exposed 
the conduct of the King, as in plain words a fraudulent project to create a feud. 
between Dissenters and the Establishment, and so to destroy both in the end." 

" This advice and warning were urged in two masterly publications. The Dis- 
senters condemned them and took every occasion to disclaim their author. 
De Foe had looked fob no less." He said, " He that will serve men must 
not promise himself that he shall not anger them. I have been exercised in 
this usage even from a youth. I had then reproaches when I blamed their 
credulity and confidence in the flatteries and caresses of Popery, and when I 
protested against addresses of thanks for an illegal liberty of conscience 
founded on a dispensing power." " He was thus early initiated in the transcendant 
art of thinking and standing alone. Whosoever can do this manfully will find 
himself least disposed to be alone when any great good thing is in progress. 
De Foe would have worked with the meanest men opposed to him in the busi- 
ness of the nation's deliverance." * 

The arguments and lectures in favour of Protestantism and liberty, and against 
the advances of despotism and Popery under the guise of Liberalism, for which 
I was professionally executed, are contained in the following pamphlet, which ig 
. 

* Edinburgh Review, October 1845. 



ADDBESS TO THE EEADEE. V. 

the substance of my crime, and w ill I hope be read extensively as a teaming, 
which it was honestly meant to be. Its title page is : — 

" GLADSTONE AND JUSTICE TO IRELAND : " 
THE LIBERAL CRY EXAMINED ON LIBERAL PRINCIPLES. 



A REPERTORY OF ARGUMENTS 

FOS ALL TRUE LIBERALS, LlBERATIONISTS, PROTESTANTS, AND PATRIOTS. 

BY THE EEV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A., 

Congregational Minister of Twenty-five Years' standing, 
And Author of the First Anti-State Church Liberation Society Prize Tract — 

"THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WHAT IS IT?" 

SHEFFIELD : 

PAWS0N AND BRAILSFORD, PRINTERS, HIGH-STREET AND MULBERRY-STREET. 

LONDON : 

ELLIOTT STOCK, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
1868, 

It is due to my liberal publisher, Mr. Elliott Stock, to say that though he 
published other pamphlets for me, and so I was emboldened to put his name on 
this, — because I was a Liberal still and was examining pretended Liberalism 
by the principles of real liberality, — he frankly suppressed the pamphlet, not 
supplying the trade with it, and finally sent back his copies, with a peremptory 
minatory final repudiation of my wicked Liberal principles. Though I am not 
able to take his name off what I have left out of ten thousand, this declaration of 
his innocence in the matter will, I trust, not only exonerate him but also myself, 
if I sell the remainder to any who send their address to me with seven postage 
stamps, or through the Sheffield publishers of this Autobiography. 

I am sure that any who read Mr. Stock's letter will as gladly draw their pen 
through his name, — erasing it from a pamphlet on "Liberal Principles," — as the 
Year Book secretary gladly was the instrument to erase mine from a position in 
which it had been honoured to stand for a quarter of a century. 

Mr. Elliott Stock thus forbids the use of his name : — 

"62, Paternoster Row, London, E.C., Oct. 20, 1868. 

" Sir, — I understand (!) you have issued a pamphlet with my name on it 
as publisher. You have done this without consulting me [ I presumed on our 
previous slight business connections], and thereby laid yourself open to legal 
proceedings. I request that you will at once cease the sale [this pamphlet 
had cost me over a hundred pounds,] of any pamphlets you may be selling with 
my name upon them ; [he had graciously permitted or condoned the presump- 
tion by receiving such pamphlets for " stock," and now complains for the first 
time, because of " Justice to Ireland!"] and I request that you never use my 
name again on anything you may issue. Yours faithfully, 

"ELLIOTT STOCK." 

1 hope I may be permitted this once to " use his name" for explanation in this 
issue, especially as it may also be an advertisement both of his business and the 
strictly " liberal principles" on which it is conducted. I may also add, that he 



VI. ADDEESS TO THE EEADEK. 






is now bringing out The Christian Spectator, which was also truly liberal in its 
former lifetime, and I hope that in this second state of existence its principles 
may agree with, and not again undermine its constitution. 

fa. The Contents of " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland, 1 " which disagreed with 
my liberation and union brethren, are as follows : — 
Position and Motives of the Writer 
It is possible to be honestly a Dissenter while dissenting from Mr. 

Gladstone. 
A Plea for Nonconformity. 
Fair Fighting 

The real Question before the Country. 
Justice to Ireland. 
No Criticism allowed, because no fixed principles entertained ; or Mr. 

Gladstone's Majority Dilemma. 
The New Dictatorship ; or " Law of Political Allegiance" and abject 

Servility. 
Mr. Gladstone is an honourable man. 
Testing Point ; or the Aytoun Debate. 
What does Disendowment mean ? 
What will he do with it ? 
How Koman Catholics regard it; or, who expects to profit by the 

transaction ? 
The Union of the Liberal party. 
An Irish Dissenter's Warning to English Dissenters. 
The Suspicion and Reaction. — The Congregational Union Meetings in 

May, 1868, indicate the general doubt and alarm of Protestant 

Dissenters. 
The " No Popery " Cry necessitated by Mr. Gladstone and justified by 

its Dissenting opponents. 
Strange Bedfellows ; or the Gladstonian Coalition. 
Important Conclusions. 
Five Suspensory Bills. 
Liberal Reporting ; or, Thick- and- Thin Gladstonianism of Independent 

Organs. 
Appendix. — The Eev. Brewin Grant's present Public Ministry, a 

Campaign against Romanism, Rationalism, and Ritualism. 

My earnest desire, as that of every Christian patriot must be, is, that the im- 
perial interests of this great empire to ay not be sacrificed to temporary personal 
ambition and party triumphs, to the gratification and advancement of those who 
will triumph over all parties, using each against the other in turn : and especially 
that those dearer interests of Christian truth, the palladium and guardian of ah 
others, may not be injured but advanced, by a wise and beneficent Providence 
overruling imperfect human purposes, as made tributary to those ends which all 
good men anxiously desire, the means to which the wisest cannot always see, but 
which are known to Him Who sees the end from the beginning ; and of Whom it 
is said, while the "thoughts" of men "perish," — "the counsel of the Loed 
etandeth for ever ; the thoughts of His heart to all generations." — (Ps. cxlvi. 
4 ; xxxiii. 11. 

It is with such views that I send forth this little book, commending it to the 
blessing of God, and the sympathy of thoughtful readers. 

Broomhall Park, Sheffield, March, 1869. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Chaptee i. — Birth and Training, rip to getting ready for College, 1821-1837 . . . . 9 

Chapter ii. — Preparing for and going to College, 1838-43 .. , .., 15 

Chapter iii. — Studying for, and at Glasgow University, first session, 1843-4 ... .... 26 

Chapter iv.— Summer Vacation and Second Session at Glasgow University, 1844-5 .. 39 

Chapter v.— The opening Campaign of Life— Seeking a " Settlement," 1845-7 . . ... 55 

Chapter vi. — Removal to Birmingham, and acquaintance with Dr. Newman and his 

Three Shams, 1848-52 ... 61 

Chapter vii. — " A greet door and effectual is opened to me" for a three years' " Mission 
to the Working Classes;" recommended by the Bev. John Angell James, sup- 
ported by Samuel Morley, Esq., but contrary to the express desire of Mr. G. J. 
Holyoake, 1850-54 .... .. .. 65 

Chapter viii. — Method of conducting my three years' " Mission," with specimens o 

infidel Questions and Christian Answers 75 

Chapter ix. — Discussion with Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, in Cowper- street, London, 

1852 .., , k .., 81 

Chapter x.— The' Rivulet' Controversy: " What's it all about ?" 1855-6 96 

Chapter xi.— What is negative Theology, and what does it lead to ? or, the Transition 

period from " Baptism in the Rivulet " to New College " Christian Faith," 1856 . . 109 

Chapter xii.— The Glasgow Debate and its Lessons, 1854 .. ... .. ... .. 119 

Chapter xiii. — Candidating for a re-settlement at the close of my public Mission — 

Letters of Commendation, 1856 „. ... ... .. ..., .., .. ..130 

Chapter xiv.— The midnight Telegram — Our first Disappointment — Our first great 

Sorrow— and Settlement in Sheffield, 1856-7 ... ..147 

Chapter xv.— " The Rescue of Faith"— "New College" Theology— The Godwin 

Controversy, 1862 „ . . . ., . . 153 

Chapter xvi. — The Commotion in the Patriot Office, and a Council of War to put down 

criticism ; or, the Revenge for the " Rescue of Faith " . ., . ., . „ ,. ., 171 



Vlll. CONTENTS. 

Chapter xvii. — The Patriot Office barricaded and forced; or, calumny deferring to 

Law .. .. 17B 

Chapter xviii. — What I said when I got into the Patriot Office — Vindicatory Letter . . 18-; 

Chapter xix. — The Atheist and the Patriot— The new Evangelical Alliance ; or, how 

the Editor tried to get out of it , .. .. 180' 

Chapter xx.— What ia the Congregational Union ; its professed Constitution and 

Objects.. ... .., .. .., .., .. ... ... .., .. .. 191 

Chapter xxi. — The Absolutism of Union Officials, and the power of Arbitrary minis- 
terial Decapitation 197 

Chapter xxii.. — The Congregational Union Meetings in Sheffield, October, 1866 .. 205 

Chapter xxiii. — The Committee assumes absolute Dictatorship over the Union and 

the Denomination .. . . 213 

Chapter xxiv. — Dr. Smith's Kecantation of his answer to me about the Year Book ; 

and the Committee's two new Shuffles. ... .. .. ... .. .. .. 225 

Chapter xxv. — The Cherry tree Orphanage .. .. .. .. .. 232 

Chapter xxvi. — Building the Congregational Church, Cemetery-road, and Besignation 
of my Charge for a Temporary Public Ministry, for special Sunday Services, 
and Week night Lectures, against Bitualism, nationalism and Bomanism. . . 235 

Chapter xxvii.— The Bev. General Picton, B.A., and his Leicester Brigade .., .. 246" 

Chapter xxviii, — What Mr. Gladstone said of me, and what I said in reply to him. 250. 

Chapter xxix. — The unpardonable Sin..., .., »., *., .. . . ... .. 255 

Chapter xxx. — Wherein Dissenters have been misled; wherein they are in danger of 
being used for what they dislike : and how they are losing the moral power to 
oppose it. ... . . ..: 266 

Chapter xxxi.— Bev. Dr. Falding, District Secretary.., .., .. 273 

L'ENVOI *.. .. ... .. 282 



THE DISSENTING WOBLD 

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



Chapter I. 

BIRTH AND TRAINING, UP TO GETTING READY 
FOR COLLEGE, 1321-1837. 

i Taking the south side of Leicester as the starting point and 
travelling on by Aylestone and Blaby, continuing the journey some 
six miles in all, we arrive at the village of Countesthorpe, at least it 
was a village then, when I was born in it, on the 3rd of April, 1821. 

As it now lies pictured in my memory you would enter by the 
" Horse road" at "Little End," where the village roughs "did 
congregate." Passing down the main street, which was rather 
zigzag in the first part, you would find, at that time, on the right, 
a place called, not originally out of respect, the " Ranter's Chapel," 
and on the other, nearly opposite, a public house ; the first bend to 
the right a little further on, would bring you to the " Meeting;" at 
the top of that lane or road was an open square, by the side of which 
was a school and the " Church." 

This square is marked in my recollection by a "Plough Monday" 
scene. On that day the labourers on the adjacent farms visited 
the chief inhabitants for " Plough Monday" contributions ; they 
were dressed in " mummer" fashion, the plough was drawn by 
some of the company, driven by a plough-boy, to the thong of whose 
whip was attached a blown bladder, containing peas, which fre- 
quently rattled on the backs of the yokels. 

I was astonished to see " the causeway' ' at the front of one of 
the houses rise like waves under the ploughshare ; the inhabitant 
of that house was a small manufacturer, and had no sympathy with 
the agricultural interest; the dislocation of his pebbles was the 
magnificent revenge of the plough boys, for disloyalty to their 
leader, who seemed to me to be not inferior to the Caliph of Bagdad, 
either in power or splendour. 

We must however not stop at the corner of this square, but turn 
to the left if we are to reach the cottage in wdiich I was born. The 
church-yard on our right hand as we pass down the street, is 
marked by another circumstance still more peculiar. — On winter 
nights, when the snow lay lightly on the earth, greyhounds were 

B 



10 

distinctly seen in the dark leaping over the gravestones, and gam- 
boling round the church ; but if you looked in the morning, even 
though there had not been a new fall of snow to cover up the marks, 
not a trace of a footstep could be seen ; from which sign, or absence 
of one, it was rationally inferred that the greyhounds were ghosts. 

As we pass along, still to the left, we come after some distance 
to the turn of the main road to the right, emerging out of the 
village ; the short straight lane affording this outlet is formed on 
one side by the backs of cottages, which have gardens in front in a 
sort of enclosure, and the other side is formed by farmer Hall's 
house and barn walls. 

This lane is marked in my memory by two occurrences ; the first 
is, that some persons having praised my facility in reading, one of 
the young ladies at this farm house seeing me pass with a Testa- 
ment in my hand, put me to read some chapter, and charmed with 
my juvenile fluency in that exercise, — for one who could read was 
a |f scholard" in those days, — called her father to witness the feat 
of an " infant phenomenon." The old gentleman was " not to be 
caught with chaff," and suspecting that I was reciting instead of 
reading, turned over to a new place, and when I gabbled through the 
selected portion with equal readiness — reading faster than he could 
talk — it nearly took his breath away, and he dismissed me with a 
eulogium and an apple. When I told my father of the old gentle- 
man's scepticism and the test to which I was put, he laughed 
immoderately, after saying "so he thought you could not read in 
another place, my boy !" 

The second circumstance that distinguishes this lane in my recol- 
lection, is, that of being set with other children with knobsticks 
to strike at any rats which a ferret might drive out of a hole in the 
barn wall, when instead of a rat the ferret's nose protruded and was 
rudely greeted. The poor creature was astonished, and we were 
rebuked for this sin of ignorant zeal. 

Passing out of this lane we come into the country, the debouchure 
being a wide "horse-road," that passed round by some orchards on 
one side and fields on the other. This was the Peatliug road, 
leading to that village. If instead of turning down that road to the 
left, we go straight on, we come to a lane at a right angle with it, 
and at the head of this lane are two or three cottages standing by 
themselves, in the middle one of which I was born. Not far from 
this was a horse-pond, with brick-built sides, for the benefit of such 
as drove or rode into the village by the high road just mentioned. 
I remember that pond by having fallen into it when playing on the 
sides ; I was fished out once by the "Thirdboro," a sort of con- 



11 

stable, and carried home dripping but not quite drowned. As I was 
going through the process of being stripped, my socks were adhe- 
sive, and I slided from the stool to the ground, which made a 
serious impression on my memory. 

Opposite to our house were the fields alongside the Peatling road, 
separated from us by the head of the lane, a dyke, and a hedge, 
and entered by a broad flat stone or slate across the dyke, on the 
other side of which was the stile and a foot road. It was the 
general opinion in those days, that certain bogies or kelpies lodged 
or lurked in the evening under bridges and such like stones ; and 
therefore, though I could very bravely cross this flatstone in the day- 
time, it required some courage and a quick pace even to pass it at 
dusk when going home alone. This however was a part of my 
outside and not of my cottage education. 

The rustic lane is rendered familiar by the circumstance of the 
whole village coming out for several evenings by our cottage, to 
hear the nightingale, which gave a concert in that direction. 

It was at last determined by some of the baser sort to kill or 
catch this songster, which had charmed so many, — a thing which 
sometimes happens in principle in the larger world, from ingrati- 
tude and envy. A process called " yacking" was resorted to, a 
nocturnal exercise in which a number went on each side of a hedge, 
some carrying a lantern to confuse the birds, and all armed with 
stones to throw at any that appeared. It was said that one 
person lamed the nightingale, and by the more respectable and 
moral of the villagers he was considered to have committed a great sin, 
for by a superstition which takes the place of virtue, the nightingale 
was regarded as sacred, whatever was allowed as to other birds. 

The alleged perpetrator of this outrage was therefore looked upon 
as having reached the climax of wickedness ; but when everybody 
had given him up, he got converted by the " Banters," whose reli- 
gion, though not so quiet and respectable and theologically intelli- 
gent as ours, was more efficient for rougher work. Many rumours 
ran through the village as to the difficulty of getting this sinner on 
his knees, to accomplish which, physical force and moral suasion 
were said to have been energetically and successfully applied. I 
believe that what were then called " Ranters," from their liveliness 
and loudness, are now called Primitive Methodists, and I hope they 
will never become so respectable and quiet as to forget their original 
fervour and zeal. 

My father and mother were attendants at the " Meeting," and 
were "members of the church " worshipping in it. " We lads" all of 
b 2 



12 

course attended and were in the Sunday School. There were other 
villages not far off, to which the respective parties attending the 
" Meeting" — which was a " Union" place, comprehending Indepen- 
dents and Baptists, — went to worship on special occasions, the 
Baptists I believe to Arnsby, and the Independents to Wigston. I 
can distinctly remember crossing the fields trotting after my father 
as we trudged over to that village for some Sunday service. 

My father was a great admirer of the Eev. Eobert Hall, the 
deservedly famous Baptist minister, and often talked to us of that 
strange eloquence which charmed so many, saying how he was 
" lost and wrapt and absorbed in his subject." 

I just remember the minister who baptized me, though not the 
occasion of that service ; he was a mild, intelligent, kindly looking 
gentleman, named Hunter, I believe, and probably was the Wigston 
minister, occasionally visiting his Countesthorpe flock, which at the 
" Meeting" had not the advantage of a "settled minister," but was 
" supplied" by lay preachers generally. 

My father however was the priest of his household, a man of deep 
earnest religious spirit, and as well acquainted with the Bible as any 
one I have ever met with. I have no doubt I can say for my four 
brothers, who live in Leicester, that if ever in some unhappy mood 
we were disposed to say with the Psalmist, "all men are liars," 
and to doubt the reality of personal religion, the remembrance of 
this sterling example would silence our sceptism. 

I believe my father's early religious awakening was produced in 
connection with the sermons of some Calvinistic clergyman. I 
remember him speaking highly of I think two names, Vaitghan and 
Bobinson, of this class, who were greatly instrumental in guiding 
him in his early youth to the Saviour, in whom he believed, with 
a faith and cheerfulness which no sorrows nor troubles ever be- 
clouded ; for though no man enjoyed life more, or more overflowed 
with constant thankfulness for "temporal mercies," and a serene 
joy as to his future inheritance, on which he constantly drew, so 
that if he had been in a prison or a workhouse he would have felt 
that his palace was next door, and that he was only waiting his 
Father's time to enter ; — still he had his sorrows and bereave- 
ments and struggles, as all men have. His greatest anxiety was to 
** see his children walking in the truth ; " and if he had had in one 
hand the gift of a splendid fortune and in the other the gift of God 
which is eternal life, to bestow only one or the other of them on us, 
we should have had the latter. I have two distinct early pictures of 
him, in this respect : one, as we walked alongside him in the fields on 






13 

Sunday afternoon, asking us, I think out of a catechism called 
" Milk for Babes," — f Can you tell me, child, who made you ? " 
To which the answer, as I remember, was, " The Great God, Who 
made heaven and earth :" the other picture is that of his frequently 
standing at our bed's foot, earnestly speaking to us, and praying for 
us. There was many a wet pillow of which he was ignorant, as the 
dusk of some summer evening deepened, and we could just discern 
his form, by the remaining . light that streamed into our cottage 
chamber. 

The changes of trade, from alteration in machinery in manufac- 
turing wool into yarn, — three gradations of which I remember, the 
first called, " bobbining," the second the " spinning jenny," and 
the third the great steam " factory," — drove my father into the 
wilderness of this world to follow the tide of emigration from vil- 
lages to the towns. For some time he went as a pioneer to Leicester, 
leaving us lads with our mother, whom we all loved and never 
vexed ; and whose family name was made my Christian name, 
derived I think from Danish extraction. My father came home on 
the Saturday evening, and Sunday was a good day to us. The first 
thing for which we felt before quite awake was " a plumb bun'" by 
our pillows. 

We removed to Leicester when I was about ten years of age ; 
there we joined the Gallowtree-gate congregation, and my father 
was a " member of the church" there for over thirty years, till 
driven away by what he felt to be a departure from that gospel in 
which he had believed, and by which he was saved. My mother 
and one of my brothers, Timothy, went to heaven before him, 
while I was at college, some nine years after our removal to 
Leicester. 

As to education, we had but ordinary school advantages, though 
we were all given to reading. I was two years in St. Margaret's 
school, Leicester, much of the time serving as "monitor ;" and a few 
of us were favoured by Mr. Hackett, the very efficient and gen- 
tlemanly " master," with extra private teaching, in grammar and 
some other subjects. This school had then a livery, — Scotch cap, 
Oxford mixture or pepper-and-salt coat, and leather shorts, which 
were embellished with ochre. 

I left that school to keep the books of a small stocking manufac- 
turer, who took out work from hosiers and employed men in 
" frames" of his own, for which he received weekly rent. 

I remember how bitter a thing it was for me to leave home, for I 
resided with the one whose books I kept after a fashion. 
b3 



14 

I longed for every opportunity of going home, and sometimes, 
while hot tears ran down my face, I wrote " M" for mother, on the 
finger nails of my left hand. I was then about fourteen. 

My next situation permitted me to live at home, and also, being 
a place rather of trust and watching than work, gave me large 
opportunities of reading. In the place where I was there were 
several books which I read with avidity — some volumes of Chambers' 
Journal, a copy of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, a 
Shakespeare, Lavater's Physiognomy, with plates, and Boxiana! 
To these I added Watts's Improvement of the Mind, Cowper's 
Poems, then my especial favourite, and Young's Night Thoughts. 

We had had several ministers at Gallowtree-gate Chapel since our 
settlement in Leicester : a Mr. Mitchell, thin, cold and gentle- 
manly, who I think died a Unitarian ; a Mr. Taylor, who I believe 
is now a Unitarian minister, a fine, sensitive, thoughtful young man, 
whose farewell sermon I heard when he was leaving through a change 
of sentiments, — which is neither the fashion, nor necessary now ; 
though honour might require it. 

Mr. Taylor's last text was : — "Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." 
(Is. xxvi. 3.) 

It was a splendid text. I remember nothing of the sermon, but I 
was critic enough then to imagine that his defect was that he did 
not trust in God, as to the appointed medium of mercy. 

His discourse was listened to with great respect, was delivered 
with modesty and trembling : no one could fail to sympathise deeply 
with the speaker, and to admire his honesty, while regretting his 
change of sentiments. 

Our next minister was Mr. Ferguson, now the Eev. Robert 
Eerguson, LL.D., of London, who was greatly beloved in our 
eircle, and whose " removal" was much lamented. Then came the 
Eev. George Legge, M.A., afterwards LL.D., a minister of con- 
siderable culture and attainments, somewhat metaphysical in ten- 
dency, possessed of a gorgeous imagination, though having an 
inefficient delivery. 

I had more immediate personal relations with him, and received 
from him great kindness and benefit. It was by his advice and 
arrangement that I was induced and enabled to enter upon an 
immediate training for the ministry, which by preliminary private 
instruction, the curriculum of Highbury College, London, and two 
sessions at Glasgow University, occupied over seven years. 



15 

Chaptek II. 

PREPARING FOR AND GOING TO COLLEGE, 1838-48. 

During my discursive reading at the age of about seventeen, I 
became much interested in the Unitarian controversy, which may be 
accounted for in part by the circumstances already named. I sat 
up many nights till very late, writing down my arguments on the 
subject and upon the general doctrines of Christianity. My father 
frequently remonstrated with me for being so late. His favourite 
phrase on retiring and leaving me up was "you will be like a dead 
thing in the morning." At last he discovered my manuscript, and 
without my knowledge took it to the Rev. De. Legge. The Doctor 
professed to discover some sign of promise in the papers thus sur- 
reptitiously obtained, and sent for me and enquired into my religions 
views, and whether I had any desire to become a minister. Though 
I had long secretly dreamed of this, there seemed to me to be many 
obstacles in the way of securing a sufficient education, which he 
kindly said were not insuperable, as there were ways of obtaining 
it without great expense. He started me in the Latin grammar, 
and for several months regulated my studies. I remember that on 
one occasion when going to him to go through a lesson, I called in 
at a public meeting, the speeches at which drove the grammar out 
of my head, so that I told him that I could tell him what they said 
at the meeting, but I was afraid I could not remember the lesson. 
I was greatly struck at his readiness in running through part of the 
conjugation of a Latin verb, and I thought such an amazing attain- 
ment was altogether beyond me. A few months afterwards it was 
arranged that I should study preliminarily under the Rev. J. G. 
Hewlett, then of Lutterworth, afterwards of Coventry, and finally 
of London. During my stay with Mr. Hewlett, as during the 
whole of my seven years' pupilage, Dr. Legge took a kindly and 
affectionate interest in my welfare and progress. We frequently 
corresponded, and he was always interested to know of my affairs 
and how I did. Among his numerous letters I find the following :— 

Leicester, February 5th, 1839. 
My dear Brewin, 

I ought to have written to you before now. I am afraid 
you have been tempted to think that I do not take a sufficient interest in your 
welfare. The notes and letters which you have sent me from time to time 
claimed of me a written expression of my satisfaction and regard. I am not 
however a man of much ceremony or etiquette, and had rather speak by deeds 
than words. I felt assured from the intercourse I had with you, that you were 
possessed of those qualities of mind which if cultivated would render an abundant 
return ; and I feel no less assured that you possess those qualities of heart v/hich 



16 

will render it an occasion of thanksgiving and pride to have been instrumental 
in aiding that cultivation. Whether then I -write to you as often as I should, or 
not, you will I trust repose that confidence in rne which I repose in you, and 
which to the extent of ray ability, I shall be desirous to evince. You have, rny 
dear Brewin, opened up to you a fine and noble career of ambition — the ambition 
of being a benefactor of your species, and a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 

To the successful prosecution of this career two things are necessary, a spirit 
of diligent and strenuous endeavour, and a spirit of devoutness and dependence 
on God. — Write me at vour earliest convenience, and believe me, my dear Brewin, 
very heartily yours, 

GEOKGE legge. 

My studies under Mr. Hewlett were " with a view" to entering 
Highbury College, London, for which another student, the Rev. 
Thomas Lee, of Epsom, commenced preparation with me, partly 
under the auspices of the college, though we were not yet recognised 
as alumni. 

These "preparatory studies" were to be followed by an examina- 
tion before the College Committee, a process at that time carried on 
in the residence of Thomas Wilson, Esq., treasurer of the institu- 
tion, in Highbury Place, Islington. 

Dk. Legge, writing to me just before this formidable " trial," which 
he scarcely expected so soon, consoled me by saying " of course you 
must prepare for your trial as well as you can. I know nothing to 
advise as to your ' exercise' [trial sermon,] except that it should be 
as short and simple as may be, and as much adapted as you can 
manage it to a common congregation, containing the simple elements 
of the gospel, with a pointed application in the third person, I should 
say, rather than the first." He was afraid I should be too pointed 
and personal and try to convert the committee. " You must hold 
yourself ready to answer a variety of questions, — general, theological, 
experimental, practical, — which one or other of the Committee may 
propose, oftentimes foolish enough and bothering enough ; you will 
endeavour to answer them with meekness and fear. Self-possession 
and modesty will bear you nobly through." He forgot that these 
two qualities do not always go together. This letter of advice is 
dated—" Leicester, May 24th, 1889." 

It was now necessary to get up our little sermons, which we 
recited to each other, only — I stuck in the middle. For besides 
that I felt the recitation to be a farce, I never was good at remem- 
bering recitations, and could not gravely address the chairs and desk, 
especially as my trial text was a question which they could neither 
answer nor feel interested in : — " Who art thou, great mountain? 
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." Whether I considered 
the committee to be the mountain, or they took me for Zerubbabel, 



17 

I do not at present remember, but they seemed to regard my 
sermon as somewhat "original," as no doubt it was. The most 
trying part of the exercise was introduced in some such terms as 
these, " Will you spend a few minutes with us, Sir ? " — which meant 
that I should kneel down to the committee and pray to the Almighty 
with probably an eye to the former. Having recovered from this trial, 
I was subjected to a cross-examination on the paper. "Motives and 
experiences," which had been sent in by me to the committee. It 
seemed I had told them that " he who desired the office of a bishop 
desired a good work," as a defence of my ambition, wherefore I 
was asked by Dr. Hendekson, — what were the apostolic qualities of 
a bishop ? As some of these were negative, I said, " he must not 
be given to much wine and no striker." I was pressed for other 
negatives in this suggestive manner : — "He must be — not a what? " 
I confessed my ignorance, and was told somewhat sharply " not a 
novice" wherefore, I replied, I believed that St. Paul said some- 
where — "Let no man despise thy youth." This gave them a 
" pause," after which I was seriously reminded that " I looked very 
young," upon which I said that I thought that would be cured in 
time. I was then dismissed while the committee held a private con- 
sultation ; and on being recalled was informed that I was admitted 
to the institution for the usual six months, at the end of which, all 
being satisfactory, my position as student would be confirmed. I 
wrote briefly to inform Dr. Legge of my acceptance as a student, 
to which he replied, enquiring for particulars, being a dear lover of 
any carefully descriptive accounts of character: — -" Leicester, June 
5, 1839. My dear Brewin, accept my felicitations on the result of 
your visit to London ; you have indeed thus far occasion to rejoice, 
and I rejoice with you. I should exceedingly like to see an account 
of the particulars of your examination, if you have been able to 
put it on paper ; I hope you will favour me therewith." Mr. 
Wilson, the treasurer, took great interest in the institution, and in 
the students, and was very liberal in his support of the college ; but 
he required no small amount of deference towards him on the part of 
the students, whom he occasionally invited to his table by way of 
trotting them up, and drawing them out, expending upon them no 
little advice, and considering that the most docile were the most 
deserving and able. He would occasionally go to some neigh- 
bouring chapel to hear the students preach in the afternoon, when 
the audiences were for the most part composed of "domestics," 
addressed by some of the students as " My dear brethren." On 
one occasion I was myself unfortunate enough to be heard by 



18 

him, and was sent for and " called over the coals." My sermon 
was not long enough — I ought to have " gone on and finished my 
work" — my " voice was not loud enough" — and I " drank water in 
the pulpit, which was a most disgraceful thing." I apologized, 
saying that I had a very severe cold and cough. " Cold, Sir ! " said 
he, "a good pulpit sweat is what you want," — and he further 
kindly observed, " You have a weak voice, Sir," and lest I should 
get out of that, he added, " Eobert Hall had a weak voice," but, 
said he, " Eobert Hall had talent, Sir ; you have no talent, Sir: I 
don't tell you to leave the ministry, but I can give you no hope, Sir," 
and so he gave me his blessing. Not highly appreciating this kind of 
thing I carefully avoided obtruding myself again into the great man's 
presence ; but he expected that at certain times, — as in leaving the 
college at the end of the session, and returning to it at the com- 
mencement, each student would call and do him suit and service. 
He wrote to my pastor, Dr. Legge, of Leicester, complaining that 
I had been very neglectful in this respect, and I was advised to call 
upon and appease Diotrophes ; — with reluctance and under 
authority I did so. I found that he had long been filled as witn 
new wine, with the burden of reproof, to which he had had no 
opportunity of giving vent till now, and he broke out thus : — " I 
saw some friends of yours," said he, " at the Isle of Wight." 
" Indeed, Sir," I replied very humbly. "Yes, Sir," said he, with 
emphasis, "and I understand you have formed an attachment, Sir." 
" I believe so," said I. " Do you think that is prudent?" said he. 
"I don't know," said I. " Well, I do know," said he, "that it is 
not.'" " I don't know these people, Sir : they may be very respec- 
table, but a minister's wife ought to have money, Sir. I have known 
ministers very ill off,* Sir, who have been glad to get cast-off 
clothes, Sir ; and you have got engaged, Sir, and have not finished 
learning your profession. I think it very imprudent, Sir." Well, 
Sir," said I, " What would you advise ?" " Sir," said he, " if it is 
done, and cannot be undone, you must submit to be told of it." 
I explained that I did not wish it to be undone, and that I did not 
care about being told of it, because I did not see that it was wrong. 

On the whole he seemed to think that I was driving a lean 
bargain. 

No one who has not been "in love " can understand the supreme 
contempt with which I regarded these mundane and mercenary 
considerations ; and I wrote in no measured terms to my pastor, 



God help them ! for man won't. 






19 

Dr. Legge, respecting what I considered the vulgarity and insolence 
to which I had been exposed by following his advice. Above 
twenty years' experience of that "bargain" has not brought me 
any nearer to the treasurer's opinion. 

The college building is a quadrangle of three sides. The two 
wings contained the small rooms, called "studies," and over them 
were corresponding bed-rooms : and the middle — the bulk of the 
building — comprised the library, dining-room, and class-rooms, and 
the " resident tutor's " dwelling. The building is now used as a 
Church of England training school, the college itself being trans- 
ferred to St. John's Wood, in combiDation with the Coward and 
Hackney Colleges, under the title of "New College." When I 
"entered" there were three professors: — Dr. Henderson, pro- 
fessor of Hebrew and theology; the Rev. J. H. Godwin, "resident 
tutor," teacher of philosophy, mathematics, logic, rhetoric, and the 
criticism of the Greek Testament. Mr. Godwin commenced as 
professor — succeeding Dr. Halley — the same year that I entered 
as student. Dr. Wm. Smith, celebrated for his classical and 
biblical dictionaries, was the professor of Greek and Latin. This 
last professor had great difficulty in indoctrinating me into the 
system of "crude forms" in Greek and Latin grammar, I being 
sceptical as to whether the languages were formed precisely on the 
principles which he laid down. After having several times intimated 
to him that I " did not quite see it," he, exercising great patience, 
thinking perhaps that because I doubted I should become a firm 
believer at last, on one occasion said to me, " Well, will this do — 
can you see it now ? " I said, I see it now ; and I admired it ever 
after. There were few more systematic scholars or more thorough 
teachers, and I always appreciated his lectures. Mr. Godwin was 
a man of sharp clear intellect, not strikingly profound, yet well 
calculated to quicken the minds of students, though somewhat 
tending to confuse them. He was always willing to explain and 
to discuss, of which disposition I often took advantage. Dr. 
Henderson was a gentleman of vast learning in oriental languages, 
but crude, not having the least philosophical tendency. On theo- 
logical questions he seldom gave his own opinions, but would 
repeat the opinions of many others. One form of class work under 
the late Dr. Henderson was filling up what was called a " syllabus," 
in which certain heads of doctrines or questions relating to theology 
were written down, and a number of books on the subjects referred 
to, which were to be condensed under these heads. These books 
were forwarded in time to the different students in the class. Some 



20 

of these would be on the " Deistical Controversy ;" and it did occa- 
sionally happen that we counted round to see who would go in, and 
what topic would fall to each, so that he might prepare in the part 
thus occurring to him, not perhaps having always written on any 
of the other topics. This arrangement was occasionally disturbed, 
some one failing to appear in the class. I have myself had to read 
a short essay from a blank paper in consequence of such accident. 
Sometimes, after one had read his part, the good doctor would ask 
another what he had on the subject, and might be informed that 
his views were very much the same as those of the previous reader, 
and so would get excused from reading on the ground of avoiding 
repetition. Once, when called in for Hebrew, I was deep in 
Junius's Letters, then a favourite book with me. Being in the middle 
of one of the letters, I took my small copy of Junius, determining 
to finish it. As I was reading this, placed inside my Hebrew Bible, 
and was just struck with one remark of the writer, the doctor asked 
me a question in Hebrew construction. Not knowing what he was 
speaking of, but only that he was addressing me, I had to reply 

" I don't know, doctor ;" upon which he informed me that Mr. 

could answer that question although he had only been a short time 
learning Hebrew. I waited until my turn came round to read, and 
had got through my verse pretty smoothly, coming perhaps very near 
to the English translation, when he began questioning me upon the 
grammatical construction of the passage. I told him if he was in any 
difficulty upon the subject I had not the least doubt that the gentle- 
man he had referred to could assist him, although he had been 
learning Hebrew so short a time. This naturally led to an explosion, 
upon which I said it was very improper to make " invidious dis- 
tinctions" between gentlemen. When the class was being dismissed 
the good doctor called me back and told me he was " very sorry" — 
meaning, I suppose, that he was sorry that I had answered him as 
I had — but, before he could go further, I accepted it as an apology, 
saying, " Well, doctor, if you are sorry that is sufficient." This, 
I acknowledge, was rather too bad, but I simply repeat it as a 
college anecdote. 

The rule of living at the college was that each student found his 
own tea, coffee, sugar, and coals ; the main substantiate of the table 
being provided by the funds of the institution. There were about 
thirty students, and we were summoned to prayers twice a day — 
in the morning before breakfast, and in the evening before supper. 
In the morning the students in turn conducted the service, and in 
the evening the resident tutor generally. These exercises on the 



21 

part of the students did not always escape criticism, and sometimes 
invited it. One gentleman prayed by mistake for the souls of the 
departed; and another hoped that "we might anchor in the firm 
and the true." I was not quite sure where these were, and I don't 
know where he is now. 

Towards the end of my " course" we had a kind of College insur- 
rection, though generally we had been quiet and amicable. Break- 
fast was generally the occasion for some little speechifying, the 
senior student present being chairman. Any one wishing to speak, 
instead of seeking to catch the speaker's eye, endeavoured to catch 
his ear, by striking loudly on the table with his tea or coffee 
canister. One morning we were startled by a very striking knock 

from the canister of Mr. , who, clearing his throat, with great 

eagerness said " Gentlemen, I have a communication to make, but 
I don't know whether I may make it, and wish for your opinion. I 
have been ordered by the resident tutor not to make this communi- 
cation ; but I made no promise, and as you are concerned, I want 
you to tell me whether you think I am bound to silence." We of 
course unanimously gave him leave to speak. He then proceeded 
to inform us that the resident tutor had asked him a certain ques- 
tion which he had threatened to ask each one of the students 
separately, but he considered it was a question which no one should 
be asked without some special reason pointed him out. It appeared 
some policeman coming up to the college the previous evening 
saw some person before him who disappeared at the College, and 
who might have been a burglar. The " servitor" was called up, 
and the College searched to see if any one had got in. No one was 
found, and the students had all retired to bed. The inference, as 
drawn by the resident tutor, was, that some student had entered the 

College clandestinely after hours. Mr. 's window (a single pane) 

being left open, he was sent for and asked what time he came in 
last night. He said "Ten o'clock." " Then you were in before 
the doors were closed ?" " Yes, Sir." "Because some one got in 
last night, and I am determined to know who it was, and to ask 
each student in turn if it ivere he." The debate then arose as to 
whether this method of investigation was suitable to our position as 
students, the universal opinion being that it was degrading to us, 
and that no one should be asked respecting any presumed act, 
except so far as any evidence might seem to point him out. We 
then confessed round to see whether any one had entered after hours, 
and found out that no one had ; hence the question simply was as 
to the method of investigation. We then, as a body, sent word to 



22 

the professor that we declined to answer any such question as we 
understood he had determined to ask. He immediately sent for 
the senior (that is, the fourth year's) class, to which I belonged ; 
and after debating the subject, he said "perhaps you question my 
authority ?" The reply was—" that is exactly it ;" we objected both 
to the authority and propriety of such a method of questioning. 
The class was dismissed, and on the arrival of the other professors 
we were all summoned into the library, where we still unanimously 
maintained our position, as declining what was considered auricular 
confession. The committee was afterwards called, and announced 
to us that unless we submitted to the authority of the resident tutor 
for such a style of inquiry they would close the college and expel 
us all. It was distinctly put that the question was not whether any 
one of them was out late, but whether that method of investigation 
was to be submitted to. The committee commenced the inquiry 
on the spot, putting the question first to the junior student of the 
college, who rose and said with considerable stammering, "Gentle- 
men, I decline most respectfully to answer that question," where- 
upon some one said, " hear, hear." The committee had already 
declared that they would give us four days before they closed the 
college, but as we were retiring one Mr. T. D., of 0. D.,* who 
entered college as a great Chartist, broke our phalanx, and an- 
nounced to the committee that he was prepared to submit by 
confessing his innocence. They then said they would wait to hear 
the submission of all. Being informed thereupon they would have to 
wait for some time before all would submit to what all condemned, 
for that the speaker could vouch at least for one, and they had 
better give us the four days, we were dismissed to our reflections- 
At the close of the four days of grace, within an hour from the 
assembling of the committee, there were perhaps six who had not 
succumbed. Some had asked the more sturdy of the holders-out 
what lie would do ? and he told them it was a matter of conscience 
with him ; and that they had better consider how far they could 
risk it. Two offered to " stand by" him, but were told that they 
had better not stand by any one if they did not stand by a principle. 
One " submitted under protest," and within the hour all had given 
way excepting one. He was sent for to the committee-room, and 
then told that they supposed he was aware that all his brethren had 
acknowledged authority and submitted to the inquiry. " Yes." 
". Well, what had he to say?" " What he had said all along, that 

* The Eev. Thomas Davies, of Over Darwen. 



23 

he. questioned their authority." " Had he consulted any friends ?" 
6 ' All that he intended to consult. ' ' ' * Had he consulted any ministers ?" 
This was asked fearing he might have some one outside to support 
him. — The answer was, "No." " Had he written to Dr. Legge, his 
pastor? "Yes, but he may have been out of town and not had 
opportunity to answer the letter." " Should you like to wait for 
his answer ? " " No, for it was not advice but conviction that was 
needed, and unless a letter could show him that he was wrong it would 
be of no use" — " Should you like a few more days to consider? " 
"No, he had considered it all along and sawno reason to change." This 
closed the interview. The students were again summoned into the 
library, to meet the committee ; the late Rev. John Blackburn then 
of Pentonville chapel, and editor, I think, of the " Congregational 
Magazine," was chairman. He announced first that the committee 
congratulated the college on the students' submission to authority. 
Secondly, a vote of censure on the student who had warned us of 
the intended private questioning. Thirdly, a vote of expulsion on 
the one who had followed his convictions. The chairman followed 
the announcement of expulsion as nearly as possible in these 
extraordinary terms, addressing the culprit : — "You have incurred 
the disapprobation of good men, for having used the abilities that 
God has given you, to overthrow order, and thus to thwart God, 
Who is the Souece of all authority." 

This sentence I never forgot, for I heard it, and was concerned 
in the case, — which, bad as it was, was nothing in comparison with 
the almost blasphemous doctrine of " Divine right " by which the 
servility of the future teachers of our churches was enforced. Too 
many of them have learned it too well ; and not one of them dare 
openly to rebel against it, at this time of my writing. 

But, we are forgetting our poor criminal, whose penalty for 
honesty was enforced by this outrageous assumption of divine 
authority to override common sense. His prompt reply was, "If 
he followed to the best of his ability the light that God had given 
him he would have His approval, if he had the disapprobation of 
good men." He then put this question to the chairman : — " You 
have an organ of public opinion under your control ; are you so far 
convinced of the propriety of your course as to allow me" — The 
chairman said he should " object to such a question being put," 
and then the students were dismissed, and the expelled one was 
called back. The chairman then said to him, " You were about to 
put a question to me." He replied, " Yes, I can speak plainly to 
you now — you are the editor of such a magazine — are you so con- 



M 

vinced of the propriety of what you have done as to permit me, 
through it, to state my case, and I will give you the letter soon 
enough for you to make any remarks upon it you please." He 
replied, " I shall obstruct you publishing by all means." The 
answer was, " I only asked the question, to let you know that 
although I cannot sustain myself before you I shall contest the 
matter before the world." One of the committee, Dr. Mathisson, 
(now in heaven) enquired of the expelled :-—" Whether he would 
not find it difficult to make the world believe that he was right, 
when all his brethren had given way ? " The doctor was asked in 
return : — ■" Which of them submitted until you threatened them ? 
They yielded to power, not to principle — and do you think any the 
worse of me because I would not ? " Another committee man, 
Mr. Kitchener, a fellow deacon, with the possible prospective 
father-in-law of the expelled, said : — " I feel an interest in Mr. — , 
from circumstances too delicate to mention, and I ask him the ques- 
tion, would he not injure the college by publishing ? " The resident 
tutor then said, "He hoped the committee would not deprecate Mr. 

's publishing" — and the one who had first spoken to urge 

him not, said : — " Oh ! it is of no consequence." The chair- 
man then said : — " We are willing to receive any communication 
from you now.''' The reply was :— " I have none to make but what 
I had already made, — that I question the propriety of such a 
line of investigation," and then the chairman bowed to the victim 
as a signal to retire. After seeing some of the students he left the 
college and went to the parties most concerned, explaining to them 
the whole of the case, and leaving it to them how far they would 
share in these unexpected difficulties, in which he had no right 
to involve them without their consent : they had faith in the future, 
and were not to be changed by these events. He then wrote home 
to Leicester to say he was coming home soon, had left college, 
could not submit to what he considered degrading ; and that 
they might expect him home shortly. He received an answer that 
was sufficiently satisfactory, and stayed for a little time with his 
friends. He wrote a letter for the Nonconformist, which Mr. Miall 
wisely advised him to shorten, and reserve further explanations for 
subsequent replies ; generously agreeing to insert this shorter state- 
ment of the case. In two days two students came down to where 
he was staying — Mr. Homan's, Lordship's Koad, Stoke Newington — 
and informed him that the resident tator had enquired for him, and 
that they believed it was " a recall." He said, "It is too late 
now, as he had left a letter at the Nonconformist office," which 



would appear in the morning, and the breach would be irreparable. 
They replied, — " Could he not get the letter back and wait till he 
heard the action of the committee ?" — He said, his friends were 
goiug to the Isle of Wight to-morrow, and he would not lose 
the evening. They kindly offered to go into the city for 
him, and to return, if they could not secure the manuscript's 
withdrawal for a time. They did not return ; and the next morning 
he went up to the college and found his letter with them, with a 
note at the foot of it written by the editor of the Nonconformist, 
to say that as this was a public question he felt it right to insert 
the letter, and that his columns would be open to an answer 
signed by a committee-man. His letter being withdrawn, he went 
to the professor, saying that he understood he had enquired for 
him, and wished to know the reason. He said the committee had 
rescinded its resolution. When asked " On what grounds ? " 
he said that Mr. Wilson, the treasurer, having died, they did not 
wish to have any unpleasant circumstances in connection with his 
death, but he added— " the committee still insist upon the right to 
carry out their method of investigation." " What, with me?" he 
said. " No," said he. "Then," he replied, " Of course I have 
nothing to do with it," and he re-entered college with the only un- 
bent neck. I should here say — resuming the " first person," that 
when the resident tutor enquired for me the night before, calling 
out my name, the student who had been the medium of commu- 
nication said, "He is gone, sir." "Gone ! "said the professor. 
" Yes, sir, he was turned out, sir." " But I thought he would not 
have gone so soon." " Yes, sir, he went directly; he was expelled, 
sir," said this rich droll, wickedly laying stress on the words — 
"turned out! — expelled!! sir." This emphasis was a kind 
protest and reproach ; but the speaker immediately added, " I think 
I can find him." Being requested to do so, he came. Some time 
after this, Dr. Legge when travelling, met with one of the members 
of the committee, who bitterly complained that Mr. Miall was 
about to open his columns to my defence ; which was considered a 
grievous crime. Dr. Legge replied, " I think Miall was right and 
Gkant too. By the way do you know that Mr. Grant is a neophyte 
and protege of mine ? " After this, the committee-man somewhat 
changed his tune. I learned from this conversation, which Dr. 
Legge reported to me, that it was not justice, nor respect to the 
occasion of the lamented treasurer's death, that caused the revoca- 
tion of the committee's edict, but fear of the world's opinion, 
which would have been unanimous. I do not record these circum- 



26 

stances as of any great public consequence, as the whole may 
seem trivial, except that it was part of my education, in which I 
graduated with honours in independence. 

I had but a few weeks to stay in college as the session was closing, 
and it completed my fourth year there, which was the term of study 
in that institution. Going back after an expulsion of some two days 
had, however — I mean it should have had — the effect of reinstating 
me in full and frank recognition as an accredited student, eligible to 
" accept a call." I learned afterwards by bitter experience that in 
anticipating so frank and honest a conclusion of a fair fight, I 
" wronged the honourable men" who stand at the door of promotion 
and have in their hands the patronage of the Independent Churches ; 
whose whisper, or shrug, or faint praise, can put back the hour- 
hand of a student's success ; and, if he has not some vigour as well 
as independence, break his spirit and terminate his ministerial 
career. I remember too well the groans of some suffering fellow- 
creatures whom, soon after this, I consoled, when I as much needed 
their consolation, except that, perhaps, I started with a larger stock 
of confidence and ardent spirits, and had been trained at home to 
look up. This, however, is anticipating. At the close of my college 
course I went home, down to Leicester, and in a room in my eldest 
brother John's house, ground up for a competitive examination, 
which, if successful, would carry me to Glasgow University. 



Chapter III. 

STUDYING FOR AND AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY, 

FIRST SESSION, 1843-4. 

Being desirous of obtaining still further educational advantages, 
after having finished my " course" at Highbury College, and having 
learned that Dr. Williams had bequeathed property to establish 
exhibitions or scholarships, sometimes called "bursaries," which 
enabled candidates successful in a competitive examination to 
pursue their studies in Glasgow University, I applied to the 
solicitor and secretary of the Trust for information as to those 
eligible for candidature, the subjects for examination, and the 
probability of any early vacancies. In reply, I received the 
following circular : — 

" Dr. Williams' Scholarships in the University of Glasgow." 
" Dr. Williams' Trustees give notice that there will be vacant 
scholarships in the University of Glasgow for the next session. 



27 

Candidates are required to present themselves in the Library, Red 
Cross-street, Cripplegate, London/ 1 ' at 10 o'clock on Wednesday, 
the 29th day of September next, for the purpose of being examined 
in the following course of study, with a view to ascertain their com- 
parative merits, and to assign the vacant scholarships to those who 
may evince the greatest proficiency : — Livy, 1st Book ; Cicero de 
Senectute,Virgil's Georgics, Horace's Odes, first Book ; Latin Com- 
position, Luke's Gospel, Xenophon's Anabasis, 1st Book; Homer's 
Iliad, first four books; Arithmetic, Algebra, including Simple 
Equations ; Euclid, first three books. 

It will be necessary that each candidate should previously send 
to the secretary a certificate proving that he is at least sixteen 
years of age, that he should produce sufficient testimonials to his 
moral character, and that he should satisfy the trustees of his wish 
to be educated for the ministry amongst the Protestant Dissenters 
of South Britain. According to the terms of the founder's will the 
preference will be given to sons of poor Presbyterian ministers 
equally qualified. 

All communications and enquiries concerning the scholarships to 
be addressed, post paid, to 

Mr. SAMUEL COTTON, 

Solicitor and Secretary to the Trust, 

76, Basinghall-street, London. 

In 1843 (Sept.) two vacancies." 
I took this with me down to Leicester, and went carefully, though 
not very hopefully, through most of the subjects, especially Homer, 
in whom I delighted ; so that I wrote more than ii a clavis" of the 
first four books, namely every word in its variety of " dialects," and 
a very close literal translation, which I felt was a useful exercise 
for accuracy and patient attention. I find in a letter to a former 
fellow-student the following statement, dated August, 1843 : — 
" You will see how absorbed I have been, for I have been diving 
into other matters, as well as the Glasgow affair ; by the way I am 
trembling on this question ; I have little hope, but despair will come 
soon enough." I was not so much afraid of the " subjects" as of 
the competitors, whom rumour had described, and whom I regarded 
as ." better up" than myself, not only in the particular books, but 
in general scholarship, and especially arithmetic and algebra, on 
the principles of which I could philosophize with De Morgan, but in 
the practice I was at sea. 

* Removed to 8, Queen's-square, Bloorasbury, W.C., the old premises being 
taken by the Metropolitan Railway. 



28 

Notwithstanding my own forebodings, I wrote to another college 
friend, to remove his indisposition "to look at the bright side of 

things ;" and saying, " do not let annoy you; if they do not 

come, it is only to teach you that they may be spared. This is my 
religion : — You fail in such a point, — what then ? must you mope 
and die ? No ! It is a small lesson to this effect, that God does not 
want you there ; and that your greatest happiness does not lie in 
what you fancied. 

I will say no more, or some time you will take up against me the 
proverb t physician, heal thyself.' I am working moderately well 
for Glasgow, expect to get through the drudgery and to have it for 
my pains, but I feel that even this is worth having, and that the 
prize is chiefly in the struggle. 

I am comfortably placed here, have a nice room to myself for 
study in my brother John's house, so that I am leading an easy and 
pleasant life, for one is never so easy and happy as when among 
those who would be glad to see you so." 

When the time for examination drew near, I went up to London 
the preceding day and spent the night before the trial in the study 
of the same gentleman as forewarned the brethren against the in- 
tended encroachment of the Professors's new inquisitional process. 
I had the Georgics yet to go through. By twelve o'clock that night 
I had read the first two Georgics, none of which I had seen before. 
Getting sleepy, I lay down on the study floor with a hassock for a 
pillow, and fell into a dream in which (as if I had been reading the 
iEneid instead of the Georgics) I was in some large hall, and 
saw old Polyphemus, considerably magnified, coming to devour 
me. I rushed towards the door to escape, but was seized ; and 
striking at the monster, I "hit a leg of the table under which I was 
sleeping and sprung up to finish the fight. The dream for a time 
still mastered me, so that when risen from my carpet couch I locked 
the door, stirred the fire, and looked round carefully, poker in hand. 
I then determined to find some tea, and venturing, still armed, into 
the corridor, I explored several of the studies, and after finding a 
mug, a kettle, and some tea, carrying poker in my hand, I descended 
to the lower regions or cellar department, where were bath room, 
coal cellars, and pump. I filled the kettle and returned, still in a 
kind of stupor, and having locked the door made some tea. With 
this inspiration I returned to the Georgics, and read carefully through 
the third and fourth books. After this I took a walk through the 
college grounds, and repeated some propositions of Euclid, thinking 
over the diagrams. At last I started for the scene of the examina- 



29 

fcion. On my way my heart failed me, and I began to think that 
there were others who I knew had given out that they were pre- 
paring for the examination, and who certainly were better scholars 
than myself. I turned into a bookshop and looked over the shelves 
in a state of hesitation, and again I started for the library, but on 
the road I thought, If I go, and fail, friends will say " we thought 
you could have done it ;" but if I don't go they will say " we knew 
you could." However, I pushed on, and on arriving at the library 
was shown into a small room, in which several hats were hung up 
that I supposed belonged to competitors. I hung my own alongside, 
trusting that if the hat was not so good the head might be, for I 
was still as if half- dreaming. Bye and bye I heard the footsteps of 
some one coming down stairs : it was the attendant, who invited me 
up to meet the examiners. One of these was the Rev. James Yates, 
celebrated for his share in " the Unitarian Controversy" with Dr. 
Waedlow, of Glasgow. Another I think was the Rev. Mr. Redpath, 
also a distinguished scholar. There was a third whose name I do 
not remember. I was told, immediately on entering, that I was the 
only one to be examined. I replied that I was glad, but was told 
" it makes no difference, you have to go through the subjects." I 
said I expected no less, but I was glad there was no competition. 
I was examined in the last two Georgics, which I had read since mid- 
night. I did not forget a word, and answered readily as to the 
special topics of each book. 

In Greek I passed well and in Latin too, except that in a word 
or two I was deficient — in "quantity." What I most dreaded was, 
Latin composition ; and when one of the examiners brought me a 
page of English to translate into Latin, I told him I thought I 
could not do it. He said, "You know it is one of the things 
required." "Yes," I replied, " I know my fate." He returned 
to the other end of the room and I began translating — first turning 
a few of the most difficult phrases, and then filling in between and 
copying off. I rose when I had done and he came towards me to 
receive the paper, and went to examine it with his two colleagues. 
He returned soon, saying " It showed a very respectable acquaint- 
ance with the language," for which I secretly blessed Providence. 
Afterwards came algebra, in which I made rather " a mull," then a 
" corollary," founded on one of the books of Euclid, — not one of the 
original propositions ; — in reference to which I was asked to prove 
that some figure was bisected by a certain line : — as if by intuition 
I saw the proof, which I repeated hastily to the examiner, who 
at first scarcely saw it. He looked again and said, " Yes, that is 



30 

right." It was evidently a short cut, and a method of proof which 
he had not observed; fortunately he asked me no further questions. 
I had then to retire into a large library while the examiners consulted ; 
in the meantime I looked at a fac-simile of Magna Charta, not a 
word of which I could read, nor did I care to read. In a little 
time I heard footsteps approaching, but I was still absorbed with 
the fac-simile, until touched on the shoulder by the attendant, who 
informed me that my presence was required by the examiners. I 
returned to them, and was informed that they had agreed to recom- 
mend me to the scholarship in the Glasgow University. " But," 
said I, " Will the recommendation be sufficient? Can I rely on 
the scholarship?" " Yes, certainly," they replied, "they must 
give it if we recommend it." I was then invited to take lunch with 
them, during which they asked me what books I had read in philosophy; 
I mentioned Locke, Brown, Reid, and Stewart, when one of them, 
Mr. Yates, I suppose, strongly recommended me to read "Hartley's 
Observations on Man." I replied that I thought I knew the theory 
of vibrations and vibratiuncles, but did not believe in it. He ob- 
served that it was useful for some important practical principles. 
They observed upon my health : — Was I strong enough for study ? 
I said I had scarcely ever been ill. They told me I did not look so 
very well ; and I told them I had the Georgics to read last night, 
and related to them what I had gone through. They treated me with 
great courtesy, and I left them highly satisfied, though I had with 
me no paper, order, or certificate, on which I could formally claim 
the scholarship. 

The assurance given to me by the examiners that their recom- 
mendation was as good as the presentation to the scholarship, was 
confirmed by the following : — 

" Basinghall-street, 5th October, 1843. 

Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to inform you that the recommen- 
dation of the Glasgow College Committee in favour of your appoint- 
ment to a vacant scholarship in Glasgow College, on Dr. Williams' 
foundation, was adopted at the late quarterly meeting of the 
trustees, and that you were appointed accordingly. 

A communication containing directions with reference to your 
duties while in the enjoyment of the scholarship will be forwarded 
to you in a few days. 

I am, yours faithfully, 

Mr. Brewin Grant, SAML. COTTOtfJ 

Highbury College, Highbury." 



31 

The reason this was addressed to me at Highbury College was 
because I went up for examination as a former student of that 
institution, from which the examiners would require certificates of 
character, and because I stayed there just before the examination, 
and frequently called there afterwards while staying at Lordship-road, 
Stoke Newington, till my departure for Glasgow. Besides the con- 
firmatory letter, as to the award of the scholarship, the following 
was sent to indicate my duties, as enforced by " the trust :" — 

"Basinghall Street, London, 

5th October, 1843. 
To Mr. B. Grant, 

Sir, — Having been appointed to be a student in the University of 
Glasgow, on the foundation of the late Rev. Daniel Williams, D.D., 
you are requested to observe the following directions : — 

You are required to enter as a public student in the Logic or 
first Philosophy class, and as such to wear the gown, and to obey 
the laws of the University, and follow the prescribed course with a 
view to your being admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, at the 
conclusion of your Philosophical studies. 

Together with the Logic, you are recommended to attend the 
senior public Greek. 

Your Mathematical studies should be so conducted as to prepare 
you to apply yourself in due time with the greatest advantage to 
Natural Philosophy, under the Professor of that science. 

You are requested to present yourself to the Principal and to the 
Professors whose classes you intend to enter, some time before 
Tuesday, November 7th, as the lectures commence early on the 
morning of that day. You may shew them this letter to prove your 
nomination as one of Dr. Williams' scholars. 

Soon after the commencement of the session, you will be publicly 
examined in Greek, and with a view to your future credit and suc- 
cess as a student, as well as to justify your nomination by the 
Trustees, it is their advice that you should employ the short interval 
in considering how you may best acquit yourself in that exami- 
nation. 

You will however, be entitled to receive those exhibitions only in 
case you discharge regularly and diligently your duties as a public 
student, and you are not to absent yourself at any time from the 
lectures or examinations, unless leave of absence be given you by 
the Principal, or by the Professors whom you attend. 

If after graduation you wish to continue your studies in the 
University of Glasgow, you may renew your application to the 



32 

Trustees, whose decision will very much depend on your conduct 
and progress as an under graduate. 

You are required at the end of every session to transmit to the 
Trustees, certificates from the Professors whom you attend, of your 
good conduct and progress as a student, and at the close of every 
session except the first, a declaration that you adhere to your in- 
tention of becoming a Protestant Dissenting Minister, in South 
Britain. Any further communications respecting your course of 
study, and your progress in it will always be acceptable to the 
Trustees. 

I beg to assure you of the heartfelt and sincere gratification, 
with which the Trustees thus address you ; they hope that you will 
earnestly strive to do credit to their nomination of you ; — that you 
will bear habitually upon your mind a sense of the importance and 
dignity of the sacred office to which you are preparing to devote 
yourself, and that according to the words of our excellent founder, 
you will as the result of the divine blessing upon your present 
exertions, " prove useful and faithful." 
I am, Sir, 

Yours, with great regard, 

(Signed by order of the Board,) 

SAML. COTTON, Secretary. 

I had now a month to spend before starting for Glasgow, and, 
judging from probability, did not advance far in Greek, but was for 
the most part otherwise occupied, if not mentally dissipated ; till 
one foggy morning, a London November fog, hid my separation 
from one who had engaged my attention — a real Fidus Achates 
enacting discreetly the character of Miss Graham's " Squire," in 
Martin Chuzzlewit. Certainly he had the best of me that day, for 
he rolled back on terra firma in a cab, while I rolled down the 
Thames in a steamer. My arrival in Glasgow, and matriculation 
examination in Greek, mentioned in the letter from the solicitor of 
Dr. Williams' Trust, are perhaps sufficiently described in a letter 
to Dr. Legge, whose unabated kindness and sympathy made him 
always desirous to be " posted up" as to my proceedings. To his 
enquiries, I answered as follows :— 

" Glasgow, December 6, 1848. 

My dear Sir, — If it were as easy to write to our friends as 
it is to think about them, I should not have left yours so long 
unanswered ; yet when I try to justify my neglect I am staggered 
by Emerson's enquiries, ' Why need I go gadding into the scenes 



33 

and philosophy of Greek and Italian history, before I have washed 
my own face or justified myself to my own benefactor? How dare 
I read Washington's Campaigns when I have not answered my own 
correspondents? ' Do not think from this that I am growing learned, 
and have put Greek and Hebrew roots in the place of affection. I 
am not up to the chin in Greek. Italian has not yet been introduced 
to me ; and as to the isolated transatlantic hero, I am seldom 
troubled about him, except to wonder how America came to be visited 
by such a phenomenon. But as our business lies on this side the 
Atlantic, we will return ; and, first for the north of England. If I had 
Pinkerton's Geography I would endeavour to point you to my 
" whereabouts," but having no books of reference, I must endeavour 
to give an extemporaneous description of my position and prospects. 
In order to do this, I must, as dear ' Dagesli * used to say, ' lay 
all my powers under contribution.' It will, however, be more sys- 
tematic if, like Beown, we regard ourselves as '. existing in time 
and place.' — I believe he says, * space,' but this would spoil the 
allusion. Go back then with me in imagination to London ; see me 
on the fatal Tuesday evening, before the dreaded crisis ; picture me 
poring over the Georgics, and eventually surrendering myself to 
half-an-hour's repose on a college hearth-rug ; see me rise like a 
ghost and seize the poker to beat down a phantom which my short 
slumber evoked ; then see me composing my nerves with tea, 
wearing out the night with a poker in one hand and a lexicon in 
the other. What a preparation ! However, for once, fortune ex- 
ceeded herself, for she generally "favours the brave," and I obtained 
a passport for Glasgow. Yet I had a month to spend in cultivating 
the affections, and in preparing to become miserable by contrast. 
I left Calypso in the south — I suppose we may call the University 
Penelope. Neptune was kinder to me than to Ulysses, for he did 
not shatter my raft, though the large pot he keeps boiling sent up 
its waves like so many huge monsters, bounding and frisking by each 
other. You must pardon the above classical allusions ; I have no 
other excuse than that we have just finished the fifth book of the 
Odyssey : if you are in any difficulty you may perhaps have some 
school notes by you ; or, in the absence of these, Lempriere's Dic- 
tionary will help you out. I came by steamer to Newcastle, and 
thence by coach to Edinburgh, getting there by one o'clock on 
Sunday morning. I violated the sabbath still farther by continuing 
my journey, after a short night at Edinburgh, and reached Glasgow 
at ten o'clock on Sunday morning. This was not like a theological 
student, but I felt disinclined to stay anywhere till I reached here. 

* " Dagesh " is a Hebrew " point," which we used to point out Dr. Henderson. 



34 

I stayed at an inn till Tuesday, when I found my way to my present 
habitation. I am close to the college, and though not in an aristo- 
cratic neighbourhood, I dwell near to the stars — have set up for a 
transcendentalist — and look down upon mankind ; in other words, 
I live up several stories high ; or, as the Scotch would say, 'Brewin 
Grant, top fiat.'' There are books, walls, chairs, and a fire staring 
me in the face ; with these I hold daily converse. I have joined 
but two classes, the Logic and the Senior Greek ; these pretty 
nearly employ me, especially as we have two hours' attendance upon 
each. I like the classes, and think I am making some little pro- 
gress. Buchanan lectures in logic : the first part is devoted to an 
analysis of the intellectual powers — we have not reached "Logic 
Proper" yet, or I would send you a syllogism. He has a very large 
class and is obliged, of course, to provide some " stuffing for geese;" 
but altogether his lectures are very useful, and I am fond of his 
class. Last week we began the " Black Stone examination.'" I dare 
say you understand all about this. I was an early victim, but 
escaped with fewer wounds than I anticipated. Only think of sitting 
in a black chair, rather bright, as a sort of bitter, mocking contrast 
to those who generally sit in it : the seat cold stone and very hard, 
to pourtray the trial connected with it. The Royal Arms behind, 
in raised figures ; a fifteen minutes sand glass fixed in the back 
over the top, as if to protest against this pitiful waste of time. 
This glass is a moveable fixture, and is to measure your victimi- 
zation. Logic students have to "profess" some Greek book. 
Several were turned back with the gracious assurance that they 
might stand another examination at the " last day ;" what a pros- 
pect ! The chair I believe is black from being " where Satan's seat 
was." There is a black-gowned porter sitting behind the chair, 
wearing his majesty's livery ; he turns the glass on each new trial, 
and, like Charon, expects an obolus for the dreary passage. I 
reached the Elysian fields without bribing Rhadamanthus, though, 
I believe, Miss Justice had her eyes bandaged. 

But I must conclude. I had an additional link binding me to 
Mr. Walker, through your letter of introduction, for Dr. Morrison 
had preceded you in that kind office. Mr. W. is very kind to me. 
Mrs. W. is quite maternal. I have an unlimited recourse to 
" kippered" fish, which forms one line of Mr. W.'s commerce, and 
I sometimes " live up to my privilege." Will you pardon this stupid 
letter, for I have been so dull and serious that it is quite a relief 
to inflict a joke on anyone who will be kind enough to bear it. 
Write soon to Yours affectionately, 

BREWIN GRANT." 



35 

Besides the kindness and hospitality of Mr. Walker and family, 
which continued during my whole stay in Glasgow, I may perhaps 
be permitted to mention the Rev. Alexander Thomson, M.A., now 
of Manchester, whose ministry I attended and in whose house I was 
always cordially welcomed. 

My first Christmas day in Glasgow I find thus described in a 
letter to a friend, dated Glasgow, December 25,1843: — "About 
five minutes ago the sun looked in at my window, — bright as in his 
summer radiance. I could not help calling some of the inhabitants 
to see if they knew what this was, which was shining in my room ; 
they soon remembered that it was the sun, though they are not very 
conversant with this luminary. I remarked yesterday morning to 
one of them that it had been a wet night ; he replied in true Scot- 
tish — 'Yes, it's a softish* country this.' In truth he is right. But 
do not think I am complaining again, for I have before me the im- 
mediate prospect of joining a party of English students, at the house 
of one who is at once a votary of study and of the domestic affec- 
tions. Setting his lady aside we shall form a bachelor's party, and 
have no other music than the jingle of knives and forks ; which I 
cannot deny has an agreeable effect, in case of hunger, and differs 
from music generally, for it does not sound the sweetest in the dis- 
tance. What an Epicurean fancy ! " 

In reply to a letter, in which I had given Dr. Legge some of my 
' ' impressions" of Scottish life and learning in Glasgow, he after 
commenting on these, turned, as was his wont, to my own practical 
affairs, enquiring what prospects or plans I had for the summer and 
autumn ; since the University Session is but six months, — from 
November 7 to the beginning of May. Thus, being solicitous for my 
future, he enquired so early as March 12: — "When does your 
session terminate ? You must be casting your glance forward to the 
vacation, and I hope you will obtain congenial and profitable oc- 
cupation somewhere. [That is, in the way of supplying pulpits.] 
Of course you will consult your old friends at Highbury. I should 
hope Mr. Godwin will give you a lift.f I need not say that any 
shadow of influence that I have will always be at your command. I 

* Once when I was walking out in a brown study, I was awakened from my 
reverie by the kindly greeting of a slight acquaintance : — " Bather soft, sir." 
For a moment I felt that I was no softer than he was ; but before making that 
affirmation I recovered myself, and remembered that he meant that it was a wet 
day. 

+ Generally speaking, a student is practically " in the hands" of his profes- 
sors, especially as to his first settlement, and often under their thumb for life. 
If a word from the college may not advance him, it can retard him. 



36 

am glad you visit occasionally my friends (Mr. and Mrs. Walker 
and family) at Portland Street, and find pleasure in their society ; 
have the kindness to present my regards to them." 

The " Scholarship" covered three Sessions, and success in study 
would have secured two or three more, as a "Divinity Scholarship," 
but as my divinity course had been secured, I had no intention of 
continuing so long, but to study at Glasgow for two Sessions. In 
the intermediate summer and autumn therefore, I should not be 
looking for a "settlement," but only for occasional engagements. 
Both in these, and in the former, my relation to College should have 
been of some advantage, especially as I went down to Glasgow with 
plenty of promises of this sort. The only aid, however, which I 
received was the publication of the College Keport without my 
name, which is the refined method of revenge adopted by Indepen- 
dent rulers, in the absence of more direct legislative powers of 
persecution. When I became " settled" and so far did not need 
recognition, I was put on their list of students, and my Glasgow 
career was added to my description. 

Some time during my stay at Glasgow, I wrote to Joshua Wilson, 
Esq., who had succeeded his father, to ask why my name was 
omitted from the Keport, since, when I should come to seek a pas- 
torate, people might say : — What college did you study at ? and if 
I replied " Highbury," and if they had the Keport, they would say 
— But you are not on the list of those who have passed through the 
college. This might be fatal, as it was intended to be, so that what they 
dared not do openly at the time, — but were forced to retract for fear 
of publicity — they might do slyly afterwards ; and then, how could 
a poor untried student weigh against the weight, gravity, and piety 
of " grave and reverend seniors ! " 

The reply to my question was considered by me to be one of 
those equivocations which men of the world leave to — "professors." 
As you are not a settled minister, and are not now in the college, I 
do not see how you can be registered in either of these characters. 
Of course not ; but I could have been kept before the churches, as 
having obtained a scholarship, and being a student at Glasgow 
University. I was registered in this latter capacity afterwards, in 
the year book, till the entire list icas drojjped in order not to honour 
me. For two or three years, since an exhibition of " the union," 
in Sheffield, the register of scholars under Dr. Williams's trust 
has been suppressed ; but the list of those who obtained " divinity" 
scholarships is still retained : for my name was not in it. 



37 

As already observed, I attended the senior Greek and the Logic 
class during my first session ; and as it was required by the terms 
of Dr. Williams's trust, that those enjoying the benefit of his 
bequest should render an account of their course at the end of each 
session, I had to send in my certificates from the professors. 

It was customary for the chief prizes to be voted by the students : 
in the Greek class I had little chance of one ; for though I claimed 
to be respectable, I could not pretend to be pre-eminent amongst 
some who seemed to have learned Greek before Gaelic. 

If my memory does not fail me, our best Grecian, who often 
astonished me by reciting more Greek than I could English, was 
the subsequently famous " A. K. H.," Mr., now the Rev. A. K. H. 
Boyd, whom I admired without envying. 

I must say I felt flattered, when at the close of our second 
session I received a note from him, — -which with many other papers, 
I found a few days ago, through hunting a mouse into an old music 
manuscript box, — and which I may be tempted to insert at the 
proper date. 

Besides the class prizes awarded by the open vote of the 
students, — who on being named, mention aloud those whom in turn 
they consider deserving of the first, second and third prize — there 
are certificates, and in some cases prizes, awarded by the professors. 
In the logic class there was the " Breadalbane prize," of five sove- 
reigns in a box that just holds them, and on the lid of which the 
name and date of the honour are inscribed : this is awarded by the 
students. The other highest prize of the class is awarded by the 
professor, for a " voluntary essay" on some prescribed subject. I 
had these two to report to Dr. Williams's trustees, with something 
like an " honourable mention" by the Greek professor. 

On my return to London, in May, 1844, I sent this information, 
with Class Certificates, to the Rev. James Yates, M.A., one of the 
examiners at the Red Cross-street Library, to lay before the 
committee. 

"CERTIFICATE. 

Eneolment. — I hereby certify that Mr. Brewin Grant was 
enrolled a student in the Senior Greek Class of the University of 
Glasgow, Session 1843-4. 

Attendance. — That he attended from Nov. 7 to May 1. 

Examination. — That he was examined not fewer than eighteen 
times in the course of the session, and was a very excellent and 
student. 



38 

Exeecises. — That he performed ivith diligence and success the 
prose exercises (Greek Prose Composition.) 

Behavioue in Class. — That his behaviour in class was decorous. 

Geneeal Conduct. — And that his general conduct, in so far as 
known to me, was unexceptionable. 

E. L. LUSHINGTON." 

Glasgow College, May 1, 1844. 

Logic Class. — "Mr. Brewin Grant has conducted himself en- 
tirely to my satisfaction as a public student in the Logic class 
throughout the session, and has so distinguished himself by his 
exertions and abilities as to have had the ' Breadalbane Prize' for the 
best student in his (the senior) division of the class adjudged to him 
by the votes of his fellow students. 

ROBERT BUCHANAN, L.R. Professor." 
" Glasgow College, May 1, 1844." 

In a later and fuller testimonial the professor describes the "Prize" 
as " adjudged" to Mr. Brewin Grant, " as the best logician of his 
year." 

The professor's own prize, in addition, was a copy of the " Memoir 
of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. By James Prior." This 
is stamped with the University " arms," and inside is written by 
the professor : — 

"Logic Class, Session 1843 — 4. 

To Mr. Brewin Grant, for the best Essay on the question — ' Is 
Attention or is Memory in any case voluntary ?' 

ROBERT BUCHANAN, L.R. Professor." 

" Glasgow College, May 1, 1844." 

The above information, with the original certificates, which were 
returned, was sent to the Rev. James Yates, M.A., one of the exa- 
miners for the Scholarship, in order to show the committee of the 
Trust that I had not dishonoured their appointment, and this 
secured its continuance. Mr. Yates answered as follows : — 

" St. Mary's Lodge, York, 

May 17th, 1844. 
Deae Sie, — Your letter with the certificates of Professors Lush- 
ington and Buchanan has been forwarded to this place, where I am 
residing for a year, with a view to the re-establishment of my health. 
The certificates are very honourable to you, and will be most grati- 
fying to the committee. I shall send them by post to Mr. Cotton, 
the secretary, at Williams's library, in Red Cross-street. 



39 

Cotton's office is removed from Basinghall-street, which is my 
reason for directing to him at the library, as I do not know his 
address. But by calling at the library, where I had the pleasure of 
seeing and examining you, you will learn his address, and he or his 
clerks will give you any information. I expect the committee will 
meet in three or four weeks from this time to examine the certifi- 
cates of the Glasgow students, and to prepare for the examination 
of the candidates for the Divinity scholarships. Your certficates 
should therefore be in Mr. Cotton's hands at that time, and after 
that he will return them to you, or keep them, as you prefer. With 
best wishes on your behalf, I am, dear Sir, 

Yours faithfully, 

JAMES YATES. " 
" P.S.— I suppose next session you will attend Professor James 
Thomson : you will also find Professor Kamsay's very useful and in- 
teresting. But of course your chief business will be the Ethic 
class, Professor Fleming's." 



Chapter IY. 

SUMMER VACATION, AND SECOND SESSION AT 

GLASGOW UNIVERSITY, 1844-5. 

■ My first pleasure during the vacation was to visit my friends in 
London, on which occasion, also, I called on the college authorities 
at Highbury. When I mentioned to one of them that he had pro- 
mised to get me opportunities of " supplying " between the sessions, 
and that I had written him a letter reminding him of his promise, 
and acquainting him with the course of my studies, he reached 
down my note and informed me that I commenced one sentence 
without a capital letter. When he saw the involuntary curl of my 
lip at the pedantry of the observation to a ministerial student who 
was anxious about his immediate prospects, he replied, " Perhaps, 
Mr. Grant, you consider these but small things," and when I cor- 
dially concurred under the circumstances, he assured me that trifles 
often impeded one's progress. And I was sure that trifling with honour 
and sacred duty was often a greater impediment, put by some in 
the way of others. When I reminded him of my business, and his 
promise, he magnanimously brought up the old affair which hap- 
pened before his promise was made ; and thus gave me an exempli- 
fication of frank Christian forgiveness for having declined to submit 
to an indignity. 



40 

I reminded him that the committee of its own accord cancelled 
its resolution, and recalled me to college : he said, " Yes, but your 
conduct must make an impression. ," By which he meant, that not 
daring to injure me in the first rash way into which they plunged, 
they would quietly " remember" me for the future. 

Another professor on whom I called the same day, referred also 
to the former rebellion ; and when I said, " but you know that was 
settled, and I was re- called ; " answered, " Yes ! to be sure, — we 
put your name on the booh ! " The emphasis with which this was 
said eloquently affirmed that the transaction described was what a 
Jew would call " one leetle trick," to adjourn their revenge to " a 
convenient season." I ought to say that neither of these professors 
was Dr. Wm. Smith. 

I had happily at the time, besides a hopeful disposition, more 
agreeable occupation to divert me from " over much sorrow;" and 
upon the whole enjoyed my six months in England, four of which I 
find summarily described in a letter to a Scotch student who lodged 
with me in the same "top flat," during my first session at Glasgow. 

This letter was written during a five or six weeks' preaching- 
sojourn at Wednesbury, called " Wedgebury," in the "Black 
Country." My services were rendered in a chapel that had made 
several promises of going down a coalpit, and I might perhaps 
have been tempted to " settle" there, only providentially a friend of 
mine — and an old fellow- student at Highbury, then living near, and 
now "without pastoral charge" in London, — offended the suscepti- 
bilities of the people, by telling them I was much too good for the 
place ; and that as for some of them my " sermons were pearls cast 
before swine." This was his way of throwing " oil on the waters," 
and would naturally have " set the Thames on fire." 

During such encouraging circumstances, I wrote to my Glasgow 
fellow-lodger thus : — 

" "Wednesbury, Staffordshire, August, 1844. 

My clear Mc, — I am heartily ashamed of leaving your letter so 
long unanswered, but for the last three months I have been busy, — 
engaged in preaching most of the time, and am but just now in pos- 
session of a little leisure. 

The region I am now in, and where I have been preaching some 
time, is a dreary one ; the only mountains being heaps of cinders 
and dross from the mines and ironworks. I have often determined 
to send you a line, and wondered how you were getting along, for 
you must not measure my interest in your welfare by the frequency 
of my correspondence. 



41 

I hope you have done some considerable study in the way of 
reviewing logic, reading some moral philosophy, with a little Latin 
and mathematics. No doubt you have had many hindrances and 
temptations, but you have still two good months left, in which to 
re-summon your resolution and S buckle to' again. 

My time has been very much taken up by writing, travelling, 
preaching, &c, so that my poor studies of the University sort have 
been sadly neglected." 

My next accounts written at the time, describe me as having 
arrived at Glasgow, and fallen headlong into the electioneering 
commotion, in which the students of the University were arranged 
on the respective sides of Mr. Kutherford and the Earl of Eglinton, 
for Lord Rector. It was reckoned a question of Radical and Tory, 
and may be understood, if it is worth understanding, by extracts 
from two letters written by me at the time, which help me to com- 
plete my tale. One of them is partly eaten by the mouse that 
helped me to find them all ; he would perhaps eventually have been 
exhibited as the " learned mouse," if he had not, like most learned 
people, been caught in a trap. Writing to a friend in London to 
describe my journey to and arrival at Glasgow, I said : — 

" Glasgow, December 13th, 1844. — Last Wednesday evening, 
you (in London) were to hear ' Israel in Egypt,' just at the very 
time I was entering Glasgow. There was a remarkable coincidence 
in this, for in very truth this is my Egypt, only (as all analogies 
must fail), I find no land of Goshen here. 

"It was raining when I came here, and has not done yet. There 
is a very brisk trade amongst the carpenters just now, which can 
only be accounted for by the general expectation of a new ark, 
which is to contain the whole of the inhabitants. But if my locality 
here is not quite a ' summum bonum,' the ' unsocial ocean' on 
which I rode down was no less disagreeable. 

"We travelled in the teeth of the winds and struggled with old 
(Eolus. You may imagine how pleasantly we were situated when I 
tell you that a respectable old gentleman, who kept me company 
during the night in the steamer's cabin, several times invoked a 
sacred name, most devotionally, as we were being gently rocked. 
He thought I was fast asleep, and when he was disturbed from his 
duties by seeing me aroused, he enquired after my welfare, adding 
that he had "been conseedering whether to take a ' leettle toady.'' 
Now I had distinctly heard him at his devotions, not two minutes 
before ; — a wag would perhaps suggest that the good man had mis- 
taken the name of the steward, or that having tried one means he 
c 



42 

thought of trying another. But I could not laugh, for I had to go 
upon deck and lay hold on the ropes, or I should have mingled 
with the elements, and have become an unlucky ghost, wandering 
restlessly over the face of the waters. 

"The scene altogether was rather puzzling; — anon the vessel 
seemed to nod familiarly to the north pole, and then as politely to 
salute the south ; while all above us appeared as if Neptune was 
quite 'jolly,' and was just shaking about his large blue paper-cap. 

" By the way I must tell you all the rest another time. We have a 
meeting very soon about electing a Lord Rector ; we have had 
some amusing scenes, which you shall hear of anon." 

The following is part of the promised communication : — 

" Glasgow, December, 1844. 

" I think you left me, having just arrived at Glasgow, and become 
absorbed at once — like a true poet, riding on his fiery Pegasus 
directly in mecleas res. My best plan will be to begin at the middle 
again. The first night that ' Israel ' was in « Egypt ' there was 
a meeting of the students about the electioneering affair, and the 
radicals were much surprised at my wonderful indifference in not 
making a flaming speech for liberty and Rutherford, just at the very 
time when I could have submerged the University and the city itself 
in the sea that carried me hither. Yet, after all, Rome has a 
wonderful influence on the Romans, and so I could not quite escape 
the prevailing epidemic ; accordingly, next evening, I attended a 
meeting of the ' liberal committee,' and was appointed to the 
honourable office of speaker at a meeting to be held on the coming 
day : both sides were to be present, and three chosen men of Israel 
were to engage in a pitched battle with three of the uncircumcised 
tories. I, being unfortunately considered to possess ready wit — in 
other words, a disinclination to blush — was appointed to bring up the 
rear, as it was very shrewdly suspected that in a mixed assembly the 
last speakers would require both tactics and brass. The day arrived, 
and amidst much uproar the six selected mounted the rostrum, each 
one to sing or say something in favour of the rector he proposed, 
and to abuse the opposing candidate in as forcible a style as he 
could possibly manage. It was a good opportunity for a young 
Demosthenes to practise on this noisy batch of literaries instead of 
talking to the ' wild and wasteful ocean.' At last a general com- 
motion arose ; the meeting separated before my oration was let off; 
and there was I, filled to the very brim with my speech, like a 
bottle of champagne without a cork-screw. This was very sad : but 
our party rallied and so did the other, when both sides had separate 



43 

meetings. My speech was in request, for my compeers had emptied 
themselves. Thanking them for the opportunity of quieting my 
mind by relieving it, I proceeded to tell them what I was going 
to say to the other party. Many were for the space of half an hour 
grievously afflicted with pains in the side as I endeavoured to 
analyse the tory bills and speeches ; but after sufficiently feeding 
the appetite of risibility, I proceeded to expatiate more grandilo- 
quently on the nobleness of our liberal principles. Since that 
memorable occasion I have thought that this speech, so near being 
still-born and so miraculously saved, should still further be defended 
by being put into a letter, as into an ark of bulrushes and safely 
deposited in the Nile, where Sir James Graham, or some kind 
lady, might possibly become enamoured of it, especially if the babe 
should, by weeping, powerfully excite compassion. You are re- 
quested to read it with the comment of your mind, and to consider 
throughout how many things have escaped my memory which, 
springing up on occasion, are not hinted at in my original MSS. 
Moreover, you must bear in mind the powerful emphasis of my 
voice and manner, adding the force of elocution to the brilliancy of 
wit. — Why have not I as good a right to praise my speech as Mrs. 

to be proud of her baby? — You may yourself supply the 

introduction, only taking care that it be appropriate, not written 
before-hand but pat to the occasion. After which, you may proceed 
thus : — Gentlemen, — This is an honour thrust upon me. I intended 
to have answered the speeches of the tories, and by this means to 
have eked out my own ; but as they set nothing up I have nothing 
to knock down. Had that meeting continued, therefore, my position 
being speechless would have been more pitiful than that of my tory 
colleague, who seemed to be quite overflowing. You will bear with 
us then if, passing over their speeches, we seek to extract some 
amusement from what they have written. Here is a series of their 
hand-bills, good subjects for dissection. In discussing these we 
shall assume the position of lecturer on grammar, taste, logic, and 
ethics." 

I had also written to the Eev. Dk. Legge, giving him an account 
of my engagements, in acknowledging which he wrote : — 

" Leicester, December 24th, 1844. — It is time that I should 
answer your kind notification of your arrival in Glasgow ; I am glad 
you are there again. Your residence within the precincts of a 
University, your collisions with the keen and vivacious Scottish 
youths, your studies to sustain mastery and become rich in distinc- 
tions at the hands of your compeers and professors, will deprive 
c2 



u 

your character of none of its native raciness, the vis vivida of your 
mother-wit and reason already praised, and you will come out all 
the better accomplished and accoutred for the larger arena of the 
church and the world : — no doubt with a B.A. attached to your 
name. I cannot question that you will have free course and be 
glorified as aforetime and much more abundantly." Asking for the 
continuance of particulars as to my studies, associations, and aims, 
he continued: — " You need not be told that I feel an interest in 
your concerns, and you have it in your power to render your de- 
tails interesting indeed." 

During the second session the British Anti- State Church Asso- 
ciation advertised for the best essay on " The Church of Christ, — 
what is it ?" and soon afterwards for a second essay, for both of which 
I competed. The result as to the first is given in the following offi- 
cial correspondence, to which the mouse aforesaid directed me, by 
leading to a box in which letters had been packed for some ten 
years. 

I wish to draw special attention to the marked passages, wherein 
I was told that I must not be so liberal as to hint that there can be 
any doubt or difference of opinion as to the mode and subjects of 
baptism, a theory which appears to me to be slightly ritualistic. 
British Anti-state Church Association, 

Aldine Chambers, Paternoster Bow, 

London, January 18th, 1845. 
My dear Sir, — Although I am not yet authorised to make a formal communi- 
cation to you in the name of the Executive Committee, I beg to congratulate yon 
upon being the successful competitor for the prize tract — The Church of Christ — 
what is it ? 

I send you herewith slips of the Tract in type, which we intend for publica- 
tion on the first of February. You will observe two paragraphs marked ; the 
first of them in slip No. 3 contains an assertion which our Baptist friends 
icould not admit to be true, and which must, therefore, in order to your recep- 
tion of the prize, be either wholly omitted or so far modified as not to imply 
that the rite of baptism, as to its mode and subjects is left in uncertainty. 
The second paragraph which I have marked may, perhaps, considering the 
main object of the Association, be regarded as episodical. 

Will you be so kind as to return, by the next post if possible, the enclosed 
proofs, with your corrections, as we are already straitened in time, and it is of 
the utmost importance that we keep faith with the public ? 
You will probably hear from me formally next week. 
I am, my dear Sir, 

Yours sincerely, 

EDWABD MI ALL. 
Mr. Brewin Grant. 

The other paragraph objected to was a concluding prayer, of which 
I was proud as Miltonic, and if the gentleman who borrowed a 



45 

volume of my pamphlets had returned it I should quote that prayer 
here, — episodically. I begged that the prayer might remain, and it 
did, in the said tract. It was with some reluctance that I submitted 
to modify the paragraph on baptism, which permitted people to get 
to heaven without immersion, and even on the Quaker principle of 
only a spiritual baptism, which I always regarded as the only essen- 
tial, — the rest being signs and modes, — respecting which every 
man being fully persuaded in his own mind, will be accepted of 
Him to Whom alone we stand or fall. I was already in advance of 
my liberal friends, being a great admirer of the only perfect liberal 
I know, the Apostle Paul. However I submitted so far, and having 
fulfilled the condition of receiving the prize I had won, was congra- 
tulated and rewarded as follows : — 

The N copy of the award" referred to in this letter was cut out 
of the Nonconformist, and reads thus : — 

BRITISH ANTI-STATE CHURCH ASSOCIATION. 

PBEMIUM TRACT. 

THE .CHURCH OF CHRIST— WHAT IS IT?"— The Execu- 
tive Committee have much pleasure in announcing to their friends the 
following Report, on the subject of the First Prize Tract, communicated to them 
by those gentlemen whom they requested to take upon them the responsibility of 
deciding upon the relative merits of the several MSS. sent in previously to the 
First of December last : — 



"We, the undersigned, having been appointed by the Executive Committee to 
award the prize for the Tract, ' The Church of Christ— What is it ?' — agree in 
the following Report : — 

. *' That thirty four manuscripts having been put into our hands for adjudica- 
tion, we concur in recommending that signed o ysypa<poi, yiypocQa,, as best 
adapted to the object contemplated by the Committee ; and that in making this 
selection we cannot refrain from expressing our gratification at the high order 
of talent displayed by several of the competitors, and particularly by the one 
bearing the signature ' U. C. C. Hope,' which, although so different in style from 
that to which the prize has been adjudicated, approaches so near to it in its 
merits as to have rendered preference a matter of some difficulty. 

"F. A. COX. 

"J. P. MURSELL. 

"EDWARD MIALL. 



The Premium Tract will be published, price Twopence, on the 1st Feb., 1845. 

The MSS. of the unsuccessful competitors may be had on application at the 
Society's Office, Aldine Chambers, Paternoster-row. 

F. A. COX. ) 

E. MIALL. L Secretaries. 

J. M. HARE.) 

I may here state, that I still have the conviction thai; the ritualistic 
water element, which nearly destroyed my chance as to the first 
c3 



46 

prize, robbed me of the second, as when I sent for the MSS. of that, 
the envelope containing my motto was cut open, and subsequent 
explanations of that curious circumstance did not remove my sus- 
picions, while many circumstances confirmed them. 

One chief part of my work this session was to prepare for the 
B.A. examination ; a not very flattering account of which I find in 
a letter to Dr. Legge, where after enumerating some causes of delay 
in writing to him, I added — (Glasgow, April 23, 1845.) " That 
ivondrous undertaking, the B.A., has had a share in the robbery, 
and may after all give me no compensation. I was nearly stranded 
at the very outset. The Latin I had read over very hastily, the 
third book of Livy had occupied a few days, amongst other duties ; 
and this was three weeks before the examination commenced. I had 
but just time to revise all except that, and could read the rest well, 
but was " called" only on that. I could have absconded, my faculties 
were all wool-gathering; and I stumbled fearfully on the dark 
mountains. Some few dunces present chuckled over my dilemma, 
like Philistines at the shearing of Samson. One English gentle- 
man proclaimed in the courts — ' Grant has stuck in the Latin,' 
but though this was made known in an * lo triumphe' style, it was 
received very uncongenially by some worthier Scots, Caledonia 
for ever ! 

"I offered to come up again, and explained privately to Professor 
Bamsay; but he said this was inadmissible, yet that I could retrieve 
it at the written composition. Alas ! I told him I had no hope 
of that. However in Greek, logic, and morals, I was equal to any 
in each, and better than any altogether. So I had still some hope. 
The Latin composition is on Thursday of this week, but I am so 
tired of work as to be unwilling to apply very much to it. 

" Now here is a pretty condition for a hero, whatever afterwards 
may be said in his praise, as thus : — he reads Greek well ; is good 
at logic and philosophy ; writes in a tidy style, &c, — the eternal 
and deafening response will be, ' ay, but he stuck in the Latin.' 
But we must leave epitaphs until our decease, and consider first the 
duties of life. ' Ay, there's the rub,' — ' there's the respect that 
makes calamity of so long life.' However, we must sow without 
regard to the clouds, trusting to the eternal seasons. I should have 
said vernal, but let it pass ; what has been said or done is thence- 
forth irrevocable. It is altogether uncertain what kind of a recep- 
tion England will give me. I shall perhaps be returned upon your 
hands, like a bad penny ; but if you can pass me between two good 
half-crowns I am sure you will ; Mr. has promised to recommend 



47 

me, should a suitable opening occur ; but I have very little faith in 
that quarter. What will you say to me, being silent so long, and 
writing now when I need your help ? Yet such is the case ; and 
the only apology to be offered for all, is that I am, dear Sir, affec- 
tionately yours." 

" Would the company like a little fresh air ?"* was the novel but 
appropriate question put suddenly once to a crowded meeting, 
listening to a discussion, which was becoming as close and warm as 
the atmosphere. The opening of the windows restored the equili- 
brium of both. Since recreation is the best handmaid of education, 
and as in after life people become " stived-up" in their affairs till 
they are feverish and incapable, and recover mastery over busi- 
ness only by leaving it for a while, so let us now take a trip down 
the Clyde, where I went about this time for ventilation. 

I am enabled to take the reader with me by the aid of a love 
letter, which was returned to me when I was married, and which 
runs thus : — 

" I promised to send you a sketch of my visit to the Highlands, but scarcely 
think it -will interest you very much though I enjoyed it, and feel much stronger 
for the trip ; but you know how different it is to read about a scene and to visit 
it. We (Mac. and I) started on Thursday morning, a day set apart here for 
fasting and preparation for the half-yearly sacrament. The shops were all closed 
as if on a sabbath, and it seemed almost a desecration to be going on a journey 
of pleasure ; but fasts are made for those who have pampered themselves too 
much. A student who has given his best vigour to the dim taper needs other 
methods of treatment ; and, at any rate, nature seemed to approve, for the day 
was an auspicious one, and plainly invited to a country ramble. Nor were we 
quite alone in our pursuit of pleasure, for the Broomielaw, where we started from, 
was thronged, the river crowded with boats, the quay with people ; some almost 
trampling upon each other to reach the boats, others eagerly watching the de- 
parture of so many pleasure seekers. Careful mothers handed their little ones 
to the police, to be almost thrown into the starting vessels, whilst they themselves 
summoning unusual agility, leaped upon the boat. All was hurry and confusion, 
but one poor creature, rarely adorned for the occasion, shrunk back from the 
fearful task, and whilst officious hands would have helped her off the quay to 
take her chance of alighting on board, she was in a strait, was cautious and 
undetermined, till, with disappointment and dismay written on her face, she saw 
our jovial steamer panting along, and waving adieu with columns of smoke. 
The commencing of the Clyde from here is rather narrow, and the low stone 
mounds, raised as an apology for banks, were washed by the swell caused by our 
steamer. In a narrow river a pleasure boat seems of some consequence, and 
makes considerable stir (like a country squire among clowns), but in a main sea 
the finest vessel may be lost amidst the billows whilst the eddies of its own path 
are unperceived. The best description of our fellow travellers is that they were 
a motley group, the most distinguished being an old blind fiddler and his vision- 

*The Eev. Howaed Hinton, M.A., in the Grant & Holyoake Cowper-street 
Discussion. 



gifted companion, the rest were composed of one of a sort from all the circum- 
stances, shapes, and conditions of human life. Their effects and general baggage 
were thrown into one general heap, an indiscriminate assemblage of deal boxes 
and hair trunks, reticules and market baskets, band-boxes and brown paper par- 
cels ; some of the good housewives had evidently studied domestic economy under 
Mrs. John Gilpin, and were taking bread and cheese with them to make up a 
wedding dinner. The river gradually widened, and we ascended the paddle-boxes 
to gain a more extensive prospect. The scenery at first was not very striking, 
yet soft, green, and lovely, as the first footsteps of spring. The interest and 
beauty deepened as the surrounding plain lifted itself into gentle slopes, here 
and there variegated with clusters of trees, sometimes a gently rising hill appears 
clothed with wood, and through this sylvan veil a princely mansion looks forth; 
at others, a mountain cultivated to the very summit promises, like a true Ceres, 
to meet the coming autumn, having his brow crowned with yellow corn. Through 
all this, the noble river marches in his daily ebb and flow, meekly bearing all the 
burdens man may lay upon him; nay, on that day he seemed peculiarly joyous, 
greeted us all with a mild beaming countenance, gathering up his face into an 
eddying smile, and reflected the brightness of the sun as he bore us gaily along. 
In most of the towns and villages alongside, you might see an unpretending "free 
church," its roof not quite covered in. In Bowling, about twelve miles down, on 
the right bank, the new church reared its front at one end of the village, and the 
old one at the other. A little beyond, and above this village, as an introduction 
to Highland scenery, a lofty mountain stretched upward its huge mass, sleeping 
in the sunlight. Some distance further, on the same side, stands a sturdy, 
rugged, rock-mountain, frowning on all around as if placed there to keep in check 
its neighbour, Dumbarton castle. This latter place is a huge heap of rock, exca- 
vated into a fortress ; an enemy would think it a dumb solitary place until he 
heard the cannon roar from their concealment. There are a few lines of wall 
along some parts of its base, and some houses standing within them bearing all 
appearance of serenity and peace. A kind of bannister leads up to its peaking 
summit, by which some were ascending as we passed ; it guides to a little tower 
crowning the castle and giving the only appearance of a military fort. Beside 
this castle, flows the river Leven, which, leaving its fertile vales, joins the Clyde 
in his march towards the ocean. Between this castle and its rugged neighbour, 
mentioned before, is a neat little pyramidal monument " to Henry Bell," the 
first steam navigator in Europe ; and who introduced steamers on the Clyde, some 
years before our own glorious Thames heard their panting. Around this monu- 
ment is a trim little garden, enclosed by a stone wall, itself apparently a time- 
hallowed ruin, and the bright green ivy mantling its stones seems to cover its 
decay with the youthful garland of spring. This unique and charming assemblage 
appears placed between these two growling monsters, as an emblem of the arts of 
peace, and, by separating such ferocious combatants, gives us the promise that 
wars shall cease when man grows better and wiser. A few miles further down, 
on the opposite side, is ' Port Glasgow.' It has a strong well laid out harbour, 
and was once a very flourishing mercantile station, its chief business consisting 
in ship building ; but since the Clyde has been deepened and made navigable 
for sailing vessels as far as Glasgow, this port has considerably declined. It is 
a substantial, well-built place, and its harbour is still visited by many ships. 
The next place of consequence is Greenock, an enterprising, bustling town, in 
which the celebrated Watt was born. On the quay is the custom house, a very 
noble building, and looks as if made to command the submission of reluctant 
vessels. From Greenock the Clyde opens into a wide space, the left leading out 



49 

into the sea, the right leading to Loch Long and Holy Loch, lying beside each 
other like two twins, with an immense mountain range to keep the peace between 
them. On before us, opposite the Clyde, lay Dunoon, a pleasantly situated vil- 
lage on the coast, having hills stretching away behind. It is a nest for Glasgow 
summer swallows, and certainly is a pleasant place to flit to, being studded all 
along the beach with elegant modern cottages and mansions. We touched at this 
place and then, turning to the right, sailed up Holy Loch, at the end of which 
is another pretty village, called Kilmun, and having still more splendid hills 
behind it. Our destination was not far from this, a lovely vale, surrounded by 
what seemed to us to be nature's wildest sublimities. We were not satisfied with the 
wonders which the clay revealed to us, but must wander forth to meet the " glimpses 
of the moon." The mountains seemed to throw a thicker shadow around us in 
the vale below, whilst their summits were lost in gloom and silence, adding a 
solitary and solemn grandeur to the scene. We heard also the murmuring of 
mountain torrents and the harsh screeching of the owl, making ' night hideous ; ' 
but as we returned, the moon arose from behind a mountain, up whose steep sides 
she seemed to have been climbing laboriously, and with her broad disk shone full 
upon us, casting a transient brightness on the smooth streams winding through 
the valley. The nest morning had far advanced before we were admiring the 
beauties of Scottish mountain scenery ; our first visit was to Loch Ech, a few 
miles from where we were staying ; it is a still, beautiful lake, opening at each 
end into a valley, and defended on each side by loftv mountains stretched into 
repose by these still waters. From this we returned home to fortify ourselves 
for another journey — this was to the Massen waterfalls. The road to it was 
picturesque, we might almost say sublime. The mountain separating the falls 
from Loch Ech is called Ben Mohr, a noble height, and planted to its front with 
fir trees, many of them seeming almost inaccessible ; you can scarcely look at 
them without thinking of the danger which must have been incurred in planting. 
The whole gives to the mountain a rich and beautiful appearance, these firs con- 
trasting with the rugged and barren rocks which they scarce conceal, and from 
which they seem to draw their sustenance. At the foot of this mountain is a 
very pretty mansion and plantation, adding the finish of home to this splendid 
combination of nature and art. But we must hasten to the falls. They are in a 
ravine, and at some distance seem lost in the grandeur of the scenery; but as you 
approach, the deep murmur of the waters awakens something like awe, and when 
you stand on the masses of stone which nature seems to have hurled together in 
the sport of her boundless power, and see the streams almost carving their im- 
petuous passage through these vain obstructions, and look up from this fierce 
contest to the mountains, lifting their heads aloft, undisturbed by this murmuring, 
listening to no sound but the rushing tempest or the pealing thunder, the im- 
pression is magnificent and overpowering. I must conclude. If this letter is too 
tedious you must pardon it since it comes from your own most affectionate ." 

But, as Mr. Godwin once said to me, as he met me returning 
from Stoke Newington to college, we " must attend to severer 
studies :" let us go back to the university, and finish the business of 
the session. 

At the risk of mixing dates, I may mention here what occurred 
at an earlier period of this session, but the result of which I was 
now beginning to look forward to with anxious curiosity. 

At the end of my first Glasgow campaign I was so eager to get 
the boat for Liverpool, that after receiving the class prizes I did 



50 

not attend the meeting in the Common Hall, where other honours 
were awarded, and announcements made of subjects to be competed 
for the next session, and at which the students could work during 
the vacation. I was entirely ignorant of this important business 
forming a part of the concluding ceremony, and only found it out 
afterwards, when there was little chance of competing, since many 
had had the opportunity of working eight months at the subjects, 
and there were now but about the same number of days left, before 
the papers were to be given in. 

At the same time there was the Installation of the Lord Eector 
to be attended, and a breakfast the next morning with him at Pro- 
fessor Thomson's, who invited some ten of the more active spirits 
whose exertions and eloquence had contributed to secure the 
election. I had the honour to be amongst the " upper ten." 

Writing to Dr. Legge about these events, I gave an account of 
my discovery of the announced University prizes, and my attempt 
to secure two of them. 

It was by obtaining a copy of the Glasgow "University Calendar" 
that I made the discovery ; and having fixed upon two subjects as 
most suitable, I determined to try chiefly for one of them — the best 
essay on " Poetic Diction, its Use and Abuse by the Orators," to 
which the University silver medal was to be awarded. This 
required some amount of reading for facts and illustrations, and 
would need to be written in a somewhat ambitious style : at any rate 
" composition" was of more consequence in this than in the other, 
which I reserved for the shorter space of time, should any be left. 
The second essay was to be on — " the Difference between the 
Aristotelian and Baconian Methods of Logic." 

I secured the services of my Highland host to call me at a fixed 
time, and went to bed two hours before the time fixed for being 
called. 

The next morning I was called upon by a fellow student with whom 
I was going through the Greek and Latin for B.A., who, perceiving 
me to be specially engaged and disposed to decline our customary 
walk, enquired what I was at, when I showed him the " Calendar" 
with the list of prizes. He said that there was one of them which he 
thought he could manage, and fixed on my reserved theme, — the 
difference between Deductive and Inductive Logic. I thought it 
would be a pity to awaken any delicacy in his mind, by saying that 
I had intended trying for that also, after finishing the other ; and 
as I was " going in " for two, he would, so far as my share in the com- 
petition was concerned, have a very fair chance. So having lent 



hini Stuart MilVs " System of Logic," in two volumes, which I had 
lately bought, I next borrowed a copy for my own use in writing 
on the second subject. 

I remember the last time my tormenter came to call me up, I 
listened to his footsteps across the outer room towards my dormi- 
tory with no feelings of Christian charity ; I rejoiced when he half 
stumbled over a chair ; I hoped he would never find my door : but 
when he did, I sprang out in desperation, and, said he, — " May be 
I've waked you too soon, shall I give you a licht ? " I hesitated a 
moment, he lighted the gas, and left me to break the ice, to get 
thoroughly awake by a very cold water process. After this, with 
the exception of half an hour's walk, and a subsequent half hour's 
effort to shake off a kind of stupor or coma, I wrote and made 
notes and copied, from two o'clock in the morning till after eleven 
at night ; when my second essay was despatched for competition ; 
the first having been sent in a few hours earlier. So ended that 
work ; — as hard a week as I should wish to endure. 

We had in the University a kind of debating society, I forget its 
name. I read in it an essay on the Crusades, which was borrowed 
by the student referred to in the preceding chapter. 

It was with great satisfaction that I found among many other 
lost papers, the following note : — if My dear Grant, I return your 
oration on the Crusades, which I have read with very great plea- 
sure. I owe you a great many apologies for not having returned it 
sooner : but I have been looking for you a long time, with that 
purpose, without having been able to discover you about the 
college. 

I have great pleasure in congratulating you on your honours in 
the Moral (Philosophy class) ; and on Thursday I expect to have 
the pleasure of doing so upon your having gained several of the 
University essay prizes. 

I am sorry that the last session in which our old University will 
number you among her sons has now come to an end : and I 
regret much that any abominable politics should have kept me from 
sooner having the pleasure and honour of your acquaintance. One 
thing I can honestly say : — I have been in several schools and 
colleges in Scotland and England, but I never met with any person 
for whose talent and genius I had the same respect and admiration, 
that I have for yours." " I am morally certain that at some future 
time your name will be one which men f will not willingly let die,'— 
and I hope that you will not in those days be surprised if you find 
your Glasgow friend claiming the honour of your acquaintance. 



52 

I wish you all manner of happiness, whatever your future course 
in life may be ; and short as the time of our acquaintance has been, 
I assure you I shall not soon forget the appearances which I hare 
seen and heard you make. With every good wish; I am, my dear 
Grant, yours very sincerely, A. K. H. B." 

This from a political opponent, and a conservative, is an example 
to my liberal friends. There are still more handsome expressions 
in the letter, which I have suppressed in order not to awaken the 
envy of some ; and " I do remember my faults this day," and ex- 
ceedingly regret, that the immediate changes and new roads of life, 
on leaving the University for a different part of the kingdom, pre- 
vented me keeping sight of so worthy a friend ; and that I had not 
an opportunity of acknowledging so generous a recognition ; but 
trust that if this should, as I believe it will, come under his notice, 
he will not feel that his kindly prognostics should make him 
ashamed. 

I had enjoyed the " Eecreatious of a Country Parson" and some 
other productions of the same pen, as I take it, before identifying 
in my own mind the author with my University friend. 

The " honours in the Moral" referred to, were the first prize ad- 
judged by the students, and one by the professor, "Keid's Essays on 
the Powers of the Human Mind," in three volumes, stamped with 
the University arms, and inscribed by the professor : — " Brewin 
Grant, A.B. In classe Ethica Discupulus. Ingenio ac Lahore 
Insignis. Prgemium Hocce Merito Consecutus est. Apud Coll. 
Glasg. Primo Die Maii, 1845. Geo. Fleming, Eth. Prof." 

This already anticipates that I passed in the B.A, examination, 
as the professor appends that title in his certificate. 

At the time of receiving this acknowledgment I was still uncer- 
tain whether I had succeeded in either of the University prizes for 
which I had written, and which were, as usual, to be distributed in 
the Public Hall, where we waited to hear the result. I had the 
satisfaction of hearing announced "the University Silver Medal for 
the best Essay on i Poetic Diction, its Use and Abuse by the 
Orators' — Mr. Brewin Grant, of Leicester." I went forward to 
receive this, and waited to learn respecting the other, when I had 
again the satisfaction of hearing the prize awarded to me for the 
best Essay on f-f The Difference between the Aristotelian and the 
Baconian Systems of Logic." This was a small money prize of I 
think two and a half guineas. The professor of Moral Philosophy 
gave me the following certificate in addition to his inscription in the 
prize volume before mentioned : — 



53 

" Glasgow College, May 1, 1845. 
Mr. Brewin Grant was a student of Moral Philosophy during the 
Session 1844-5. He was regular in his attendance and exemplary 
in his conduct, and in the examinations and exercises of the class 
uniformly acquitted himself so as to merit the highest approbation 
and esteem of his fellow students and myself. It will give me great 
pleasure to hear of his happiness and success in life. 

" WILLIAM FLEMING, Professor of Moral Philosophy." 

Afterwards, in 1847, when I was desirous of giving occasional 
lectures in connection with Philosophical, Literary, and Edu- 
cational Institutions, Professor Fleming added to the above : — " He 
(Mr. Grant) applied himself with so much ability and success to the 
business of the class that by the votes of his fellow- students, and 
with my cordial approbation, he obtained the first prize awarded for 
general eminence throughout the session. It is also consistent with 
my knowledge, that at the close of that session he received two 
University Prizes for essays on topics connected with Mental Philo- 
sophy, which were thought by the judges to be of very superior 
merit. His abilities are naturally good, and they have been care- 
fully and successfully cultivated. He is quick, acute, lively, and 
ingenious, and possesses many of the qualities which should fit him 
to be popular and interesting as a public teacher or lecturer." 

The Logic Professor was also kind enough to furnish me with a 
supplementary testimonial on the same occasion : — 

" The Kev. Brewin Grant, B.A., entered the University of 
Glasgow as a scholar on Dr. Williams's Foundation, in 1843-4. 

During that session he attended the Logic Class, in which he so 
eminently distinguished himself by his readiness, acuteness, and 
ingenuity, in the written compositions, extemporary criticisms, and 
public examinations of the class, that by the votes of his fellow- 
students the Breadalbane Prize was awarded to him as the best 
logician of his year. 

While attending the University Mr. Grant carried several public 
prizes for essays on subjects connected with the departments of 
Logic, Khetoric, and Metaphysics, all of them composed with much 
ability and characterised by a power of vigorous and original 
thinking. I may add that during the whole period of his connection 
with the University of Glasgow, Mr. Grant conducted himself as a 
zealous and exemplary student, and that on taking his degree in 
Arts, he passed his examination in Logic with marked approbation. 

ROBERT BUCHANAN, M.A., 
Oct. 16th, 1847. [Prof, of Locic and Khetoric in the University of Glasgow. 



54 

It was gratifying to me to receive at the end of my University 
course a kindly recognition from my old college, Highbury, London, 
in which were still one half of those who were fellow-students with 
me ; and these, with the others who had entered since I left, sent 
me the congratulations of the united brethren, by the senior stu- 
dent, who thus wrote : — 

" Highbury College, May 4, 1845. 

My dear Brother, — It is with very sincere pleasure that I forward 
to you, in accordance with a motion passed the other morning at 
the breakfast table, the hearty congratulations of the brethren here, 
for the honourable attainment of the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
in the Glasgow University, and likewise for the successful competi- 
tion for the prize for the best essay on the subject of a Christian 
church (the Anti-State Church Prize Tract.) 

I hope you will be long spared to enjoy the honours you have 
already reached and to attain others of yet higher importance and 
distinction. 

I remain, my dear Grant, very truly yours, 

J. FLEMING, Senior Student." 

It only remains to complete this part of my history by the 
approbation I most prized, namely of my father, and my pastor :— 

" Leicester, June 1845. 

My dear Grant, — I received your last note a few days ago. I 
had been apprised before of the result of your Glasgow career by 
your dear father with his sparkling eyes and swelling heart. It is 
late to tender you my congratulations thereupon, but you may 
believe that no one rejoiced more sincerely in your success than I 
did. I trust it is the earnest and foreshadowing of more brilliant 
successes yet to come, in the cause of truth and meekness and 
righteousness. I wish I had it in my power to introduce you to a 
sphere where you could find yourself in congenial element and have 
scope for the exercise of your powers. 

"Do write to me at your earliest convenience, and believe me, 
my dear Grant, yours affectionately, 

GEORGE LEGGE." 



55 

Chapter Y. 

THE OPENING CAMPAIGN OF LIFE. SEEKING A 

" SETTLEMENT." 1845—7. 

Hitherto I had been highly favoured by providential opportuni- 
ties of education and health to achieve moderate success ; and now, 
though in one sense the whole world was before me, and was " a 
wide, wide world," I seemed to have a very narrow entrance into it, 
or rather into the church ; and what was a greater exercise of faith, 
the entrance was so narrow that I could not at first discern it. 
Neither did I, but was led to it by a way I knew not. 

I was driven into three ports : the first was Gainsboro', where the 
minister might possibly leave, but where he eventually for some 
time remained, so that this " opening" was not an " opening" at 
all ; but continued to be closed by the former occupant of the 
pulpit, an old Highbury fellow- student, the Kev. David Loxton, 
who had kindly endeavoured, in case of his removal, to prepare the 
way for me to be his successor. 

In a letter to one who would share in and complete my " settle- 
ment" wherever that should be, I stated the efforts made at this time, 
July 17, 1845, by the friends at Gainsboro' to induce Mr. Loxton 
to continue amongst them, though they regarded their church more 
as a training ground for a minister of his abilities, than as a per- 
manency for life ; since Gainsboro' was a rather decaying than a 
flourishing town, and the chapel shared in the general fortunes. 

Mr. Loxton, in a very friendly letter of September 12, 1845, 
writing from Gainsboro,' respecting my previous visit there, and I 
think before his own movements were quite decided, was good 
enough to say: — "Most of the intelligent people here were very 
much pleased with you ; but you are too good for the ignorant 

mass. Don't think about , but look for a better place. If 

I can in any way serve you, you have only to tell me how." Mr. 
Loxton afterwards removed to Liverpool, and thence to Sheffield, 
where he has laboured with fair success for I believe about sixteen 
years. He is now our senior minister, having been in the town 
longer than any other of the brethren at present ministering there. 

My next port was Woodside, Birkenhead, but that opening was 
also closed, inasmuch as during my preaching there the good 
people were waiting for an answer from one whom they had invited 
rather ambitiously, — the Kev. J. G. Miall, of Bradford, whose 
position I find described thus, in a letter dated, August, 1845 : — 
" He has a flourishing church, and would find it difficult to leave." 



56 

However, knowing as I did that the people were looking in 
another direction, I conld not in these circumstances be deemed 
a " candidate" but only a temporary " supply." This opening, 
therefore, was not one. I ought to state here that I do not for a 
moment imagine that the Kev. J. G-. Miall was " candidafcing ;" it 
would be extremely improbable that he could have for a moment 
entertained the idea of leaving Bradford, — where his character and 
abilities were so highly and deservedly appreciated, and where he 
still abides in honour and usefulness, — to undertake a cause so 
shattered and unpromising as Woodside was at that time. 

My third port was Prescot, near Liverpool, where I expected 
nothing, and got what I wanted — a " settlement" and training 
ground; for I was too immature for a large " sphere," and as Dr. 
Legge told me, I should be most advantageously placed among 
disadvantages, to bear the yoke in my youth, which is as good as it 
is sometimes galling. I rested and was thankful. 

I foundmany very kind friends there, though "the cause" was small, 
and had become " smaller by degrees and beautifully less" for some 
time past. It was nursed by the " County Union," but this cir- 
cumstance, which in itself is generally irksome to an Independent 
minister, was considerably relieved to me by the respectful and 
considerate treatment which I invariably received from the minis- 
ters who presided over the contributing churches, and with lay 
delegates managed the affairs of the Union. 

Dr. Baffles was a prince among them ; he was urbanity itself ; 
and always treated an obscure brother with marked respect. It 
is true he could give a dignified rebuke, but always good-naturedly, 
as when once I apologized for not calling upon him when I visited 
Liverpool, excusing myself on the ground that the place was in such 
a whirl that I got confused, and turned back to Prescot as soon as 
possible, he wrote to say that as he had no hope of Liverpool ever 
becoming any quieter, he was afraid he must abandon the hope of 
enjoying a visit from me. 

To the end of his life he evinced a kindly interest in me. I have 
a letter in which he writes of me to another, as " my old friend ;" 
and a little before his decease he wrote a kind apology for not 
being able to repeat the obligation I was several times under to 
him, of taking some public service in my church. No man ever 
more cheerfully aided the brethren. 

The Bev. John Kelly, equally eminent, though less popular, 
was always equally kind ; and my occasional relations with him 
always inspired me with that respect in which he still lives in the 
general estimation. 



57 

These two, with other ministers round and some from a distance, 
ifcook part in my " Ordination," — a dedicatory service publicly set- 
ting apart and recognizing one as devoted to the work of the 
ministry. This was in January, 1846. 

The Rev. J. L. Pooee, formerly of Salford, and afterwards 
fctively employed in connection with the Colonial Mission, facili- 
Uing the settlement of English ministers over Colonial churches, 
aid whose decease lately was a cause of wide- spread sorrow, was 
yesent on the occasion and took part in it. He was somewhat 
ftrsonally interested in me, as being uncle by marriage to the one 
^Jjiom I was hoping would soon share my labours and fortunes. 

From a letter to that one, dated January 23, which with many 
otier letters constituted the only " worldly goods," except myself, 
wih which I " endowed" her, I quote the following brief reference 
to ny ordination : — " Everything went off well, and what was very 
cheering to me. Your aunt was there ; Mr. Poore brought her. He 
read and prayed after the first hymn ; several ministers gave out 
hyrms. I was rather nervous, but got through. Your aunt 
borrowed the papers that I read, (giving an account of religious 
experience, doctrines, and church polity.) One question I had 
to answer extemporaneously, so it is not down (on the papers) ; 
the whole was written in haste the day before. Dr. Raffles 
presided at the dinner ; was very kind and cordial ; we had about 
fifty to dine. My father was there, and is increasingly pleased 
with the place and people, — says we have more reality than show. 
At first he was frightened by our fewness till he knew the worth of 
some of them. Last Sunday was the best attended yet, though still 
of course very thin. Mr. Poore did very well (at the ordination 
meetings) and praised me largely at the dinner. Dr. Legge of 
course did the same, and Dr. Raffles assured me and the people 
how cordially I should be received into ministerial confidence, and 
by the Association of the County, (w r hich ' gave a grant' to the place.)" 

On April the second (to avoid the first) of the same year, another 
ceremony was performed by the Rev. John Jefferson, in his chapel, 
Stoke Newington, London, when the eldest daughter of Francis 
Homan, Esq., one of Mr. Jefferson's deacons, became Mrs. Brewin 
Grant. That occasion was unhappily overshadowed, as all joy is, 
by a painful circumstance, the sudden illness, a few months prece- 
ding, from a paralytic stroke, of our father, who had been my true 
and kind friend for some seven years ; but who had now become — 

" In power of others, never in his own," 
as Samson says of his incapacitating blindness. We knew, however, 



58 

that though bereaved of speech, so as not able to originate a pro- 
position, and unable to communicate with man except in mono- 
syllables, as "yes" or "no," as much signified by looks and 
signs as expressed by the tongue, he could still hold heavenh 
converse, and retained all his faculties of understanding what wa 
spoken or read to him. Though henceforth dead as to " business,' 
in which he had been " diligent," as he had been " fervent in spiri; 
serving the Lord" in both, he still took an interest in passing events; 
and lor ten years with general cheerfulnes, though suffering occ,*- 
sional depression, enjoyed life with gratitude and resigned it wife 
the certainty of a better. 

In our little flock at Prescot we had three representative mei, 
who may be reckoned upon in most congregations ; " Father Dok(," 
now in heaven, whose large lustrous eyes gleamed as he " led" wth 
heart and soul and voice in Ebenezer vestry prayer meetings, sich 
lines as — 

Btand up, my soul, shake off thy fears, 
And gird the gospel armour on — 

represented the simple, hearty, humble worshipper, to whon the 
plain gospel was "nectar," drunk in with eager delight and ihank- 
fulness. 

The second representative man was Mr. Someeville, then 
"forester" to Lord Derby, managing the trees in the noble 
" Knowsley Park;" and afterwards, perhaps still, sustaining the 
same office under Lord Harewood, near Leeds : he was brother to 
" One who Whistled at the Plough," and who found brains for the 
Anti-Corn-law league orators. Mr. Someeville was of the Scottish 
covenanter class, a rigid theologian, and as conscientious as he was 
intelligent in his religion. The third was my personal friend, who 
will perhaps forgive me naming him here, Mr. Heney Walkee 
Lucas, then of the Liverpool, now of the London, Stock Exchange. 
He lived out at Prescot, where his sister kept a select boarding 
school for young ladies, and in whose house we spent many happy 
and profitable hours. I took him to be a representative of the more 
cultivated and intellectual class of our hearers, whileat the same time 
sympathizing with what is suited to the more simple and theological. 
I felt that as a matter of mere criticism a style of preaching that 
should meet the simplicity and fervour of the first, the soundness 
and spirituality of the second, without violating the taste of the 
third, would be the perfection of sermonizing ; though too great a 
regard for the last might produce tameness and inefficiency. 

Prescot upon the whole was a dull and stagnant town, from 
which were many migrations, and sometimes those who were most 



benefited and useful were removed by " the logic of events :" still 
'we enjoyed our sojourn there, and believe it was not wholly lost on 
Wselves and others. 

t Exactly two years after my ordination in Prescot, I received a 
litter from Mr. Thos. Si-ioet, Jun., Birmingham, — one of the 
deacons of Highbury chapel, Graham- street, in that town, whose 
Mher was then a deacon of the Eev. John Angell James, and is 
I believe still in the same office in that church. This letter stated 
tmt I had been named to him by one of my old Highbury fellow- 
stidents as a likely minister for the above-named chapel. 

I had also been described to him as " moveable," which unhap- 
pily is a large category, though it is dangerous to be known (at 
hone) to belong to it. 

I was invited to preach "in the capacity of probationer," and 
was asked whether in case they gave me an "invitation," I would 
accept it. Several Sundays were mentioned on which I could if 
convenient " supply the pulpit." Not knowing the place or the 
people, and not prepared to accept a " call" which might not be 
given,! agreed to " supply," that we might have an opportunity of 
knowing each other. I was very heartily received, and found " the 
young people," and especially "the young men," exceedingly 
anxious to manifest that my services had made "a good impression." 

But whether from habit or affection, it was always my lot to form 
an attachment to the place and people with whom I had been asso- 
ciated,- and any change seemed like a funeral : so much so, that I 
as naturally call a final discourse a " funeral" as a " farewell ser- 
mon." I could scarcely endure the idea of "facing" my " old 
people " with a tale of our probable separation ; and my friend Mr. 
Lucas, having heard through his mother and sister from Mrs. 
Grant that I was urged to stay a fortnight longer in Birmingham, 
wrote me a letter which only increased my embarrassment "betwixt 
the two," feeling much as the apostle did in reference to that final 
" removal" by a " call" that must be answered. 

Not to dwell on these scenes, I give here the ultimate decision, 
as sent to my first flock, after many an anxious consideration as to 
my duty under the circumstances. 

" Prescot, March 30, 1848. 

To the Chukch of Christ assembling for "Worship in Ebenezer Chapel, 

Prescot. 

My dear Friends, — You will be somewhat prepared for the painful task 

which now devolves upon me to intimate my resignation of the pastoral office 

among you. The many severe losses we have sustained by the removal of one 

and another stated worshipper from our midst, and the little advance made in 



60 

securing others as permanent attendants, have been long painfully felt by me, as 
no doubt by yourselves : had this not been the case no inducement would havf 
led me to discontinue my services with you. Nor have I come to the presen. 
conclusion without great reluctance, and being driven by considerations whici 
amount to necessity. I shall ever consider my stay here, though brief, as m 
important period of my life, and shall look back at those who have been tie 
steady attendants on my ministry with feelings of peculiar affection. I am sory 
that my efforts have been productive of so few prominent results ; and yet world 
fain cherish the hope that they will leave some permanent traces at least in tie 
minds of a few. 

If you stand firmly together in unity of affection and purpose, (as I doibt 
not you will) , and obtain the services of one possessing more of the pecular 
energy required for the place, you may yet be blessed with a success whici I 
ardently desire, but have failed to secure. 

Desiring for you all spiritual and temporal blessings, 

I remain, with fullest affection, 

Yours very truly, 

BKEWIN GRANT." 
On the evening of the same day a meeting of the church was 
held, of which the following account was transmitted to me, and is 
highly prized. 

The conclusion especially indicates a kindly Christian spirit, well 
worthy of imitation in similiar cases. 

At a Meeting of the Members of the Church assembling at Ebenezer Chapel, 
Prescot, held on Thursday, the 30th day of March, 1848, [ 
H. Walker Lucas, in the chair, 

It was moved, seconded, and unanimously resolved : — 

" That this meeting has heard with the deepest regret the intimation of the 
retirement of their esteemed pastor, Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A., as communicated 
in his letter read this evening. That they sympathize with him in the necessity 
that has compelled this resignation, and feel assured that nothing but a sense of 
duty and obligation has dictated so painful a determination on his part. That 
in accepting his relinquishment of the pastoral charge over them they desire to 
express their appreciation of his labours amongst them, and the individual advan- 
tage which they have derived from the instructions that they have been privi- 
leged to enjoy. At the same time they would pray the Great Head of the 
Church to grant that in the sphere to which he is about to be removed greater 
apparent results may accompany his ministry than have been permitted to attend 
it here. H. "WALKER LUCAS, Chairman." 

It was further resolved : — 

" That a special prayer meeting for the future prosperity and usefulness of 
Mr. Grant be held on Sunday evening next, at the close of the service." 

We had in Prescot a Mechanics' Institute, with which was con- 
nected a day school for boys. I was on the committee, and took an 
active interest in the up-hill work of education in the town. In 
reply to my letter of resignation, (I think of the office of president), 
the following resolution was forwarded to me, by the very promising, 
but not highly encouraged, master of the school : — 






61 

'• Prescot Mechanics' Institute, April 6th, 1848. 
Dear Sir, — I am desired by the committee to convey to you the following 
resolution, passed unanimously at their meeting of the 5th instant : — ' That this 
peeting has learned with regret the resignation of the Rev. Brewin Grant ; that 
they return him their grateful acknowledgment for his varied assistance in advan- 
cing the interests of the institution, and that they sincerely hope his efforts in 
the cause of education may meet with more marked encouragement and success 
iii the large and promising sphere to which he is about to remove.' 

By order of the committee, 

THOMAS MARTIN, 

Assistant Secretary." 
u Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A." 

P.S. — " As I am only officially (as master) connected with the committee, 

allow me to say that with the whole of the resolution I warmly sympathize, and 

shall ever remember with gratitude the kind and respectful treatment I have at 

all times received from you as my superior in office. T.M." 

"The resolution ordered that your note of resignation be entered 

on the minutes." 



Chaptee VI. 

REMOVAL TO BIRMINGHAM, AND ACQUAINTANCE WITH 

DR. NEWMAN AND HIS THREE SHAMS, 1848-52. 

Having been invited to the pastorate of the church worshipping 
in Highbury Chapel, Graham-street, Birmingham, I sent the fol- 
lowing acceptance : — 

" Prescot, Lancashire, March 28, 1848. 
■ 
To the Church of Christ assembling for Worship in Highbury Chapel, 
Graham-street, Birmingham. 

Christian Friends, — I shall not detain you by a long formal letter in reply to 
the invitation received by me to become your pastor. There are many deeply 
rooted associations connecting me with my present sphere of labour which would 
prevent me hastily abandoning it for another, but I am emboldened to hope that 
my removal to Birmingham would, under the blessing of the great Head of the 
Church, be more conducive to my usefulness and to His glory. This is my great 
reason for accepting — as I do herewith — the call you have sent me. I trust it is 
not without some wiser arrangement than our own that the peculiar combination 
of circumstances occurred which brought me amongst you and led you to seek 
my further services. Your prayers and exertions, and consistency and character, 
must give efficiency to my labours, or they will be in vain. The pulpit must be 
seconded by the pews — supported by the cordial sympathies and earnest efforts 
and supplications of the church members especially. Could I not rely upon this 
I would not consent to preside over any people. Do not forget then your own 
part in the contract, and then, I trust, God will seal it with His blessing. The 
cause is weak, but if it be a seed with the element of life, though no larger than 
a grain of mustard seed, it will grow into a tree. 



62 

My great work will be in the pulpit, to bring forth from the treasury of God's 
"Word things new and old, and I trust that whatever doubts or difficulties any 
may feel on religious subjects will be freely communicated to me, either through 
the medium of such classes as may be formed, and which I hope most of you will- 
avail yourselves of, or by private communication. 

With reliance on your active co-operation and entreaties, I entrust myself 
amongst you, praying the Great Teacher to enlighten and sanctify me through 
His Truth for our mutual edification, for the enlargement of His cause in High- 
bury Chapel, and the general extension of pure and undenled religion in your 
town and neigh bourhood. 

Believe me yours, in the bonds of the gospel, 

BEE WIN GRANT." \. 

At the end of about two years' labour amongst the people here, 
during which we enjoyed undisturbed harmony, — though when I 
'* took to" the place " the cause" was much shattered and in ill moral 
repute from previous circumstances, which greatly retarded our pro- 
gress, — I received a token of esteem and regard, which I still wear 
near to my heart, — in my watch-pocket. Before referring further 
to this circumstance, I may make a remark here, which will be 
defensive of many a worthy minister who works against wind and 
tide, and whose want of palpable success in his church and congre- 
gation militates unfairly against his promotion to some less barren 
ground, and in some instances diminishes the estimation in which 
he is held by his more fortunate brethren and the denomination 
generally. 

It is too commonly imagined that the town in which a minister 
" settles" is the " sphere" of his labour ; and that his efficiency is 
to be measured by this extent of opportunity ; whereas, it may be, 
and too often happens, that the chapel or " cause" with which he 
is connected is the boundary of his sphere; and instead of standing 
on his own merits, he is regarded as the representative of that 
place ; and if it is reputable, he may be powerful, but if it has an 
ill odour, and a miserable history, as too often is the case, he will 
be clothed in popular estimation with the character of his place. In 
ordinary circumstances, any church would be successful if its 
members were honest, earnest, and active ; but when they do not 
help a minister, but on the contrary weigh him down with the dead 
weight of their traditional reputation, acquired perhaps before he 
" took the oversight" of them, his want of success is from their 
want of religion. 

I speak this for others : it in no way applies to my old friends in 
Birmingham ; nor were they responsible for any odium which rested 
on the place when I went to it. This resulted, from what I feel 
pleasure in saying very seldom occurs amongst us, a stigma on 



63 

the pulpit : — though whether even that was deserved, or was greatly 
the result of exaggerated gossip against the previous occupant, I do 
not decide. 

No doubt we have some ministers, whom some would irreve- 
rently call " muffs," though perhaps it would take a very able man 
to preach better, under the circumstances in which these ministers 
are placed ; and the brightest intellect and warmest heart would 
become dull and saddened, by the absence of that hope and practi- 
cal sympathy which are the main-springs of even spiritualized 
genius. I write this for my brethren as I have always defended 
their honour, interests, and liberty. It is for the churches also, 
that they should consider more intelligently the conditions of suc- 
cess, and that in looking for " a man that will draw," they should 
take care that he is not surrounded by those who will repel : for 
people outside do not so much trouble themselves to examine our 
principles in the abstract, as to point to specimens in the concrete. 

But this is " episodical," as Mr. Miall said, — my prayer was at 
the end of an Anti- State Church Tract, — "considering the main 
object of the Association." 

I will therefore keep my friends no longer waiting, but permit 
them to read their address on presenting me with a valuable gold 
watch and chain, at our Christmas tea meeting, being the close of 
my second year among them. 

That address, which is as follows, like many other elements of this 
history, was found among my providentially recovered papers : — 

" Birmingham, December 24th, 184.9. 
Dear Pastor, — We, the members of the Church and Congregation, avail 
ourselves of the present opportunity of returning our sincere thanks for the 
valuable instruction you have been instrumental in imparting to us : the classes 
you have formed, the works you have written, the lectures you have delivered, 
(independently of your numerous ministerial duties,) have all tended to our 
mental advancement. Participating in these, and observing the disinterested- 
ness with which you have ever sought to elevate our minds and defend truth, 
has often led us to wish for an opportunity of evincing the high esteem with 
which we regard your instruction. We therefore embrace the present one, by 
requesting you to accept the accompanying Testimonial as a mark of the same." 

Some of the lectures referred to in the above address were of a 
literary and philosophical character ; but the greater part were in 
relation to Infidelity and Romanism, against both of which I have 
been " a man of war from" my " youth," and I hope to die in 
harness. 

Amongst the various subjects publicly treated of, I may mention 
a careful analysis of the Rev. H. W. Wilberforce's " Thirteen 



64 

Eeasons" for joining the Church of ; Eome which "reasons" he 
declared satisfied the conscience of one Rev. Mr. Swallowell, a long 
time ago : and therefore I called my answer : — " The Swallowell 
Family, &c," showing what their capacious receptivity could take 
down. 

During my Birmingham pastorate Dr. Newman gave his famous 
Lectures to the Brothers of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, on 
" Catholicism in England," to which I replied weekly, under the 
title of " Orations to the Oratorians, a Supplement to the Eev. Dr. 
Newman's Lectures on Catholicism in England." The substance 
of these I printed in " The Bible and the People," a sixpenny 
monthly periodical, which I began to edit in January, 1851, and 
carried on for several years, till the end of my "three years 
Mission to the Working Classes." 

The lectures just referred to, — " Orations to the Oratorians," I 
republished, in a separate form. The effect of these four orations 
may be understood from the fact that Dr. Newman was obliged to 
shorten his publicly announced twelve Lectures into nine. People 
who had paid for tickets on the whole course were allowed to 
receive their money back for the unfulfilled part of the contract. 

Having thus silenced this great gun, I finished his course by 
giving the three lectures which he ought to have given, and pub- 
lished them under the following title : — " The Three Shams : — 
the Sham Peter, called the Pope : — the Sham Church, called the 
Infallible : and the Sham Bible, called Douay and Tradition." 

These were delivered in the Birmingham Town Hall, to vast over- 
flowing audiences. We Dissenters had a little before seemed to 
favour papists, by not accepting " The Ecclesiastical Titles Act ; " 
as we ignorantly thought it was a question of words and names of 
their law, and not an insidious advance of power. 

This our compliance was considered a favourable opportunity for 
introducing Romanism in rose colour by the effeminate and plau- 
sible pervert, who imagined that we were in an impressible state of 
mind ; so I gave him my impression of the whole affair, in replies 
that silenced him, and in the " Three Shams," which shut him up 
safely in his Oratory. 

The short preface to these lectures will sufficiently explain their 
nature, and the occasion of my delivering them. 

The following lectures were occasioned by the recent movements of the Papal 
party in Birmingham, who endeavoured to take advantage of what they expected 
would be a reaction of public feeling; and, accordingly brought forward their 
pervert, Dr. Newman, to parade before the town, under the guise of lectures to the 



65 

" Brothers of the Oratory," the rights and the wrongs of Komanism, in a series of 
lectures on " Catholicism in England." The Eomanists seem to reckon upon the 
silence or neutrality of those dissenters who had opposed legislative measures 
against the impudent aggression ; whilst in their attack on Protestantism they 
ignored the liberal services of their presumed allies, and, indeed, appeared for- 
getful of their existence, as these champions of the Pope advanced against 
"Elizabethan Protestantism," expecting by dead history and obsolete formalities 
to storm the stronghold of the national church. 

The author of the following lectures felt bound, therefore, to spoil the calcu- 
lation of these wise men from the Vatican, by coming forth from his corner to 
open the masked battery against which the Church militant had so conveniently 
closed her eyes. He first refuted and effectually exposed the pitiful device of 
Dr. Newman in the vain attempt to repaint the Eoman Jezebel by blackening 
Elizabethanism. This he did in a course of " Four Orations to the Oratorians, 
—a Supplement to Dr. Newman's Lectures." And since during the delivery of 
these, Dr. Newman took down his flag, and lessened his course from twelve to 
nine lectures, the author of the following, determined to expose the very foun- 
dations of the Papal fraud, by three lectures on the Sham Peter, &c, being ac- 
cording to announcement, the "three lectures Dr. Newman should have de- 
livered, to finish his twelve." 

The vast, intelligent, and enthusiastic audiences with which he was favoured, 
induced him to publish the lectures in a permanent form, as a short, simple, and 
unanswerable exposure of the Eomish cheat. 

These Lectures, with others on Komanism, Kitualism and 
Rationalism, can at any time be re-delivered, by arrangement with 
the Author. 



Chapter VII. 

"A GREAT DOOR AND EFFECTUAL IS OPENED TO ME," 
for a " Three* Years' Mission" to the Working Classes; recom- 
mended by the Rev. John Angell James, supported by Samuel 
Morley, Esq., but contrary to the express desire and advice 
of Mr. G. J. Holyoake.— 1850-54. 

The nature of my efforts and the recognition I received at this 
time, as contributing to the public good by the defence of religion 
against superstition and scepticism, may be seen from the following 
selection from " the contents" of "The Bible and the People" for 
1851, and from the "Opinions of the Press." 

These are given for two reasons, first to fulfil the purposes of an 
Autobiography, by letting the reader see in what line my thoughts 
and actions were engaged ; and secondly to show what I am still 
prepared to advocate by tongue and pen. 



68 

CONTENTS OF " THE BIBLE AND THE PEOPLE," for 1851. 

I. 1. Christianity a Reasonable Religion. 2. The Keys of the kingdom ; 
what they are and who stole them. 3. Free Thoughts for Free Thinkers. 
4. The Provinces of Science, Philosophy, and Religion. 

II. 1. The Inscription on the Cross ; its three Languages and their Lessons. 
2. Peter's Keys and the Pope's Picklocks. 3. The House of Merchandise. 4. 
The Atheist's Box ; or the Arguments from design. 5. Mind and Matter ; their 
Evidences and Distinctions. 

III. 1. Reason not Rationalism ; or true Methods of Interpreting the Scrip- 
tures. 2. Ecclesiastical Polity. 3. Infidels' candour and knowledge of the 
Scriptures. 

IV. 1. The Bible our true Magna Charta. 2. Rome's Logic, scheme the 
first. 3. The Ecclesiastical Marriage Bill. 4. Infidel Tactics. 5. The Nature 
of Faith and Science. 

V. 1. The Permanent Test of Religious Truth in the Written Word of God. 
2. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. 3. Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. 4. Passages 
from the Life of an Enquirer, o. The Nature of Faith. 

YI. 1. The Gathering of the Nations. 2. Church Extension. 3. Passages 
from the Life of on Inquirer. 4. Mind and Matter ; their Evidences and Dis- 
tinctions. 

VII. 1. The Basis of Human Brotherhood in the Bible Doctrine of " One 
God and Father of all." 2. The Reformation Reformed. 3. The Theory of 
Intolerance involved in Words and Names applied to Religious Parties and 
Doctrines. 4. Passages from the Life of an Inquirer. 5. Autobiography of an 
Atheist. 

VIII. 1. The true Apostles' Creed ; or the New Testament Canon of 
Life and Doctrine, in the Person of Jesus Christ. 2. The Rev. George 
Shallowell and his Family Connexions ; (or, Reasons for submitting to the 
Church of Rome.) 3. The Theory of Intolerance, &c, &c, concluded. 4. 
Autobiography of an Atheist continued. 

IX. 1. The True Apostles' Creed ; or the New Testament Canon of Life and 
Doctrine, in the Person of Jesus Christ. 2. Roman Oratory, and Protestant 
Logic. 3. Autobiography of an Atheist. 4. Passages from the Life of an In- 
quirer. 5. The Evidence of Testimony and its Special Application to the Truth 
of Christianity. 6. Mind and Matter ; their Evidences and Distinctions. 

X. 1. The True Apostles' Creed ; or the New Testament Canon of Life and 
Doctrine in the Person of Jesus Christ. 2. St. Philip Neri, Founder of the 
Oratorians ; " his Maxims and Sayings." 3. The Rev. Robert Nares, A.M., on the 
character of Christ. 4. Mind and Matter ; their Evidences and Distinctions. 5. 
The Vision. 6. Labour and Capital, or Men and Masters ; their Rights and 
Dutie s. 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

"The Bible and the People." — A very good idea, very well and very ably 
executed. It promises to do excellent service against more than one class of 
adversaries. The divisions of the work are 'Christ's Religion,' the 'Priest's 
Religion,' the ' Statesman's Religion,' the ' Infidel's Religion,' and 'the Philosophy 
of Human Nature.' Under these five heads, the two numbers now before us supply 
a batch of excellent specimen articles. We wish the publication all possible 
success." — British Banner. 

" The department of labour here undertaken is, we believe, unoccupied, and is 
one in which great service may be done : this first number contains much food for 



67 

thought, and acute clever writing. "We shall be glad to find the Editor's boldness 
and energy appropriately rewarded. There is much suggestive matter throughout 
the [II.] number." — The Nonconformist. 

" The first number is varied in its contents, sound in its principles, and healthy 
in its tone. It is a great step taken towards attaining the object aimed at. 

" ' Free Thoughts for Free Thinkers,' for the great body of the working classes, 
these 'thoughts,' clearly expressed in plain terms, addressed to their reason and 
experience, are peculiarly valuable. — Birmingham Journal. 

" We cordially recommend it. The popular forms of infidelity are here met in 
a bolder and better way than we have seen in any periodical. There is no mistake 
about the heartiness and ability with which the Editor advocates his views. 

" The paper on ' The Keys,' &c, is inimitable, both as a polemical piece and 
an exposition." — Hastings and St. Leonard's News. 

" In these times, when all principles are being sifted, and the minds of many 
are unsettled, especially in regard to the fundamentals of Christianity, such a 
popular publication as this is much needed, and on these grounds ' The Bible 
and the People' is calculated to make its way. 

'• Sceptics' Keligion' contains excellent arguments, and will be read with 
interest by the class for whom it is intended. The ' Infidel Press' is manfully 
grappled with. The work is calculated to lead the reader to think deeply on the 
most important subjects," &c. — Birmingham Mercury. 

" The Bible and the People." — " This new monthly magazine aims to be 
popular without being feeble ; adapted to the unlearned readers, without coming 
down to the level of those who wish to be saved the trouble of thinking. It has 
begun well. We know not when we have met, in a periodical of the same class, 
with so much solid matter so clearly and vigorously expressed. We should rejoice 
to know that our young men, and intelligent mechanics especially, were exten- 
sively availing themselves of the helps here afforded to the right understanding 
of the great religious questions of the age. It will now be their own fault if 
they do not become well grounded in the principles and evidences of Chris- 
tianity, and prepared to deal alike with the pretensions of priestcraft, 
and the objections and schemes of infidelity. On all these topics valuable 
instruction is conveyed in these pages. The last, especially, we would 
mention as treated in a candid and intelligent spirit, rendering the work very 
suitable to be placed in the hands of the doubting or unbelieving, and Chris- 
tians may do good service to the cause they advocate, and to the souls of men, 
by promoting its circulation amongst them.-— The Bristol Examiner and 
Bath Becord. 

" It is almost original in its plan, and it is bold and effective in its execution. 
Its permanent contents range under five heads : — I. Christ's Beligion. II. 
Priests' Beligion. III. Statesmen's Beligion. IV. Sceptics' Beligion. V. The 
Philosophy of Human Nature. 

" The first head in both numbers is ' Christ's Beligion,' which is admirably 
discussed, so far as the subject has as yet been carried. The second in both is 
' Priests' Beligion,' of which, as of the other, we can only at present express our 
strong approbation. '■ The keys of the kingdom' are found, though to great num- 
bers who claim to be of the ldngdom, they are still at the bottom of the well ; 
and found they are here dexterously applied, and many who have boasted that 
they are in the exclusive possession of them, are actually shut out. 

" The fourth head, the ' Sceptics' Beligion,' containing in the two num- 
bers, ' Free Thoughts to the Free Thinkers,' and the ' Atheist's Box, or the 
Argument from Design,' is exceedingly seasonable, and will greatly aid the stu- 



68 

dent in unravelling the sophistries of the sceptic. The t Philosophy of Human, 
Nature,' in both numbers, opens up a fine field to the metaphysical mind, into 
which the Editor has entered with clear perceptions, fully prepared to instruct 
those who follow him, by means of plain language and powerful reasoning. 
" We cannot leave the subject without saying to students and young ministers 
—see how you are surrounded ! Here is a quiver, from which you may draw at 
pleasure well winged and sharp arrows, by which you may wound systems, and 
reduce their supporters to hold parley with you, while you propound to them the 
glad news of a Saviour's love. "We have here a Scriptural Theology, healthy 
and vigorous philosophy, and an unsophisticated logic, united with searching 
inquiry, and a masculine love of the good and the great, which render the 
magazine of great value in our estimation. And solely, for their own sake and 
the truth's sake, we advise our readers to give early orders. — The Christian 
News. 

These public appearances led some to consider that it might be 
useful to engage my services for more public work than the 
pastorate of a single church. 

It was moreover considered that some such general advocacy of 
religion as I was supposed able to conduct was peculiarly required 
by the signs of the times. Samuel Morley, Esq., ever foremost 
in works of benevolence, was prepared to aid in its support, and 
the Eev. John Angell James, of Birmingham, wrote to the British 
Banner, urging that I should be induced and enabled to enter upon 
a work for which he was pleased to say I was peculiarly fitted. 

It was eventually arranged that I should be so engaged in a 
"Three Years' Mission to the Working Classes ; " and I was left 
entirely without control by any committee or individual : I do not 
even know who contributed towards my salary, but only that Mr. 
Morley regularly sent it, and I understood that he was one of six 
who secured it for three years, and gave me the country for my 
diocese. I believe that George Moore, Esq., of Bow Church -yard, 
London, was one of the contributors, as I believe it was at his 
request, through Mr. Morley, that I visited Cumberland and 
lectured and preached extensively there, as a part of the country in 
which Mr. Moore felt a special interest. 

I often lectured six nights a week, and preached three times on 
a Sunday, in all sorts of chapels, and for all sorts of occasions, 
Sunday schools, anniversaries, &c. 

The regulation was, that parties who invited me paid the 
expenses, and received my services gratis. 

During this tour I received much kindness and consideration 
from clergy and ministers, and the laity of all denominations. 

Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, who then had the run of the 
country, was extremely jealous of this Mission ; and seeing the 



69 

recommendatory letter of the Rev. John Angell James, wrote to 
warn the Christian public against supposing that there was any 
necessity for it, or that the agent proposed ivas suitable ; and while 
publicly engaged in demanding : — " Why the Clergy avoid discus- 
sion ? " he professed to be just about caving in, offering to work in 
"parallel" lines with the clergy whom he perpetually insulted, and 
with his usual adroitness he flattered Mr. James, and abused the 
agency proposed, as not likely to exhibit the meekness and respect 
which the infidel would assume on occasions towards those whom 
he had most frequently outraged. 

" To the Editor of the British Banner. 

Sir, — The letter of your venerable and distinguished correspondent, the Rev. 
John Angell James, has been read by me with great interest. I may smile at its 
strange statistics of free-thinking resources ; but I am not insensible to the be- 
nevolent feeling which breathes throughout the letter — a feeling which I can 
appreciate, though I deem it misdirected." " Let me tell Mr. James, that I am 
so far from looking back with ' contempt 1 on past relations with him, that 
I am disposed to pay great deference to the notice he has done me the honour to 
bestow upon me ; and I will therefore say to him, what I would not say to mem- 
bers of that " Mission' ; he proposes : — Why is it that we are still addressed as 
' infidels,' though we are not so (!) in the sense in which either the public, or Mr. 
James himself understands that offensive term ? Why does he speak of our 
views as ' Atheism,' while we choose another name, more truly (!) expressing 
our convictions? ' The young minister' has a position to win, and he proposes(?) 
to make himself felt by obnoxious epithets — thinking that to make himself 
felt is to make himself a power. He mistakes harshness for faithfulness, 
imagining that when he has denounced he has conquered, and that when he has 
irritated, he has persuaded. But the eminence of the Eev. Mr. James, renders 
these arts as unnecessary to his distinction as they must be incompatible with the 
dictates of his wiser experience, which must teach him that the people will 
naturally ask, ' How can we expect truth when we do not find courtesy?' 
The tone the Christian Spectator has of late manifested towards free-thinkers 
would command the patient attention of a thousand auditors, who would not give 
half an hour to a biting sarcasm, and a nibbling logic. If the proposed mission 
proceeds on the assumption (!) that we paint the Clergy as the enemies of the 
working class, it would do us injustice. (!) "We do not doubt the good intention 
of Christian ministers, though we dispute the wisdom of their means. If the 
' Mission' assumes that we ' subvert the faith of the people,' it will fail (!) We 
do not subvert faith ; we systematise opinion, and direct practical issues which 
might run parallel with Christianity, if you would let them. But history will 
one day tell with astonishment (! !) that in the hour when scepticism laid down 
its antagonism, Christianity took it up. 

I have the honour to be, 

Your obedient servant, 

Nov. 14, 1852. GEO. JACOB HOLYOAKE. " 

In exhibition of this gentleman's peculiar courtesy, the following 
reply to his " laying down antagonism" was sent to the same 
paper : — 



70 

t: To the Editor of the ' British Banner.' 
Sir, — Mr. Holyoake declared in your last that he was " far from looking back 
with contempt" of Mr. James' Sunday school, and expressed great admiration 
and respect for Mr. James in order to exhibit bitterness to one who had a position 
to win. Mr. Holyoake has a position to lose ; he enquires : — How can there be 
truth when there is no courtesy ? Now it is certain we may not look for truth 
where there are lies and hypocrisy. These are plain words. I flatter no man : 
that may be left to the Christian Spectator. Please to print the following pre- 
face, by Mr. Holyoake, to an insolent tirade on Mr. James' Anxious Enquirer, 
which Mr. Holyoake inserted in the Reasoner, No. 70, p. 527, vol. iii. The 
following is a copy, and your readers may judge how far a mission is requisite to 
open the eyes of the working classes to the practice of these truth-seekers :— 
' Five years of my youth were wasted in the Sunday school of Carr's-lane Chapel. 
Every Sunday once, and generally twice, during that long period, it was my mis- 
fortune to sit under the Eev. Angell James, a believing recipient of such pernicious 
trash as that in the Anxious Enquirer, to which Mr. Chilton usefully draws 
attention. If ever I and the Rev. John Angell James meet at the bar of God, 
and justice is there afforded for those who have been wronged in life, I shall de- 
mand at the hands of the Rev. John Angell James the restitution of the buoyant 
years of my youth which he so clouded with melancholy and anxious early 
thoughts. Next to the evil to which I thus suffered was the misery inflicted on 
many near and dear to me. Distinct before me at this moment are the agonising 
expressions of those who believed or feared they had committed the redoubtable 
sin against the Holy Ghost. Without fear of contradiction I venture the opinion 
that if the Holy Ghost has a particle of humanity in Him there is no sin against 
Him like writing Anxious Enquirers. Devoutly thankful am I to stand where I 
do, looking down on the dangers, the traps, the gins and pitfalls of evangelical 
piety which I have escaped. Rightly did Shelley exclaim, ' I would rather be 
damned with Plato and Lord Bacon than go to heaven with Malthus and Paley;' 
(that is, Mr. Holyoake would rather be damned than go to heaven with John 
Angell James.) If in Birmingham I should think it my duty to distribute a 
■copy of Mr. Chilton's article (on the Anxious Enquirer) to every member of 
Mr. James' congregation, and to the teachers in the Sunday School. I hope 
some friend will do it to the Sunday school teachers, as a matter of conscience, 
to save them, not only from the wrath to come, but from the wrath that is come 
wherever Anxious Inquiries have gone. I shall send Mr. James a copy.' — Ed. — 
i.e., George Jacob Holyoake. The above is word for word; and I ask whether 
Mr. Holyoake can pretend to truthfulness after this and his letter of last week. 

< THE YOUNG MINISTER.' " • 
The Secular advocate got out of this fierce attack on a minister 
whom " for the nonce" he professed to respect, by saying that for 
this coarseness he is called " rude/' and that when he shows good 
feeling instead of had, this "form of good feeling is made an 
offence." But it was not the "good feeling" that was condemned, 
hut the hypocritical pretence of it by one who had shown the 
opposite. 

It would take up too large a space to enter upon all the details 
of my Mission ; but the following description of one portion of it, 

* Both these letters -were quoted in the Cowper-street Debate, pp. 18—20. 



71 

accidently picked up, as I was beginning to write this chapter, may 
be appropriate here. I do not know the writer of it, and only 
wonder at his acquaintance with some details of my life. 

It appeared in the Rochdale Sentinel, in which there had been 
ten previous descriptions of clergymen and ministers, under the 
title of " Clerical Portraits." It was reprinted in "the Bible and 
the People," in November 1854, and serves as corroborative testi- 
money as to my engagements about this time. 

" The subject of to-day's sketch, though not a Lancashire man, 
is probably well known by name to the majority of our readers. He 
has been engaged during the present week in delivering three lec- 
tures at the Corn Exchange, Manchester, on the new phase of 
infidelity called secularism, in reply to the arguments of its chief 
advocates, Messrs. Gr. J. Holyoake, Joseph Barker, and Charles 
Southwell. The lectures were well attended. The audience on all 
three occasions consisted almost wholly of working men. We have 
rarely seen a speaker followed with deeper interest. His remarks 
told with very powerful effect. For full two hours his addresses, 
racy, witty, sarcastic, and [convincing, were listened to with unflag- 
ging attention, relieved at intervals by hearty applause. Believing, 
as we do, that the spread of atheistic views is fraught with the 
utmost peril to the interests of the commonwealth, which are neces- 
sarily bound up with those of religion, we cannot but rejoice that 
they have found an antagonist who is endowed with the very talents 
which are requsite to unmask their sophistry, and hold them up to 
the scorn of the people. 

Ministers of religion are often reluctant to meet the advocates of 
infidelity upon the platform, and the feeling is not without some 
measure of justification. Christianity has stood its ground for 
eighteen centuries, and is too old a veteran to be bound in honour 
to take notice of every vapouring puppy who may aspire to win a 
little prestige by essaying a passage-at-arms. If it is, as it claims to 
be, eternal truth, it can well afford to let its assailants exhaust, 
without interruption, their small stock of enmity and ingenuity. 
The chief motive to an opposite course is supplied by the apprehen- 
sion that error may do much damage before it confutes itself. This 
is true, but perhaps still greater damage would flow from an eager 
haste to confute it. When we know that our doors and windows 
are well bolted and barred, we can lie down to rest in peace. To 
sit on the watch all night would betray a suspicion that our defences 
are weak. But though we are not among those who censure 
ministers of religion for their reluctance to engage in platform dis- 



72 

cussions with the advocates of infidelity, we admit the nuisance 
which such a course will occasion, if persevered in too long. Mr. 
Holyoake has imputed the silence of the clergy to their fears, forget- 
ting that confidence or contempt would produce the same result, 
and has gone everywhere proclaiming himself a champion they dared 
not encounter. It was high time to put a stop to this nuisance, and 
Mr. Grant has done it most effectually. He has sought every op- 
portunity of meeting Mr. Holyoake, or any other antagonist, and 
when an opportunity for open discussion has been denied, he has 
tracked the steps of the recusant, addressed the same audiences, 
argued the question on the same grounds, and generally with the 
happiest results. 

Mr. Gkant is quite at home in controversy. Its dust and heat 
have no terrors for him. The hotter the furnace waxes, the more 
comfortable he appears. He can lecture well under the most pacific 
circumstances, but an assailant is necessayto put him quite at ease. 
Nature made him an intellectual combatant, and he has improved 
upon her gifts, by very careful training. He carries all sorts of 
weapons, both offensive and defensive ; a keen Damascus blade for 
those who are worthy of it, and a stout heavy mallet for wooden 
heads. His fire arms are revolvers, each charged with half-a-dozen 
balls ; the first discharge may end with a flash, or the ball may 
miss the mark, but no matter, three or four more follow in as many 
seconds, so that a thousand to one if he does not floor his man. In 
addition to these weapons for disposing of materials more or less 
solid, he carries about with him a pleasant phosphoric apparatus 
for burning men of straw. Mr. Gkant has some disadvantages on 
the platform. He is not of a stature to undervalue the well-known 
mode of measurement approved by Dr. Watts. His voice, too, is 
neither musical nor of a wide compass. Sometimes very close atten- 
tion is required to catch his words ; though this is due in some degree 
to the rapidity of his enunciation. Still he is capable of making him- 
self heard by very large audiences, and the want of easy inflection in 
his voice is not felt as a great loss, where strength, not beauty, is 
the accomplishment chiefly requisite. His mode of thinking is 
very clear, and his style of speaking very sententious. His words 
are well chosen, always weighty, and to the point. His argu- 
ments are short, often compressed into a sentence, and so put that it 
is next to impossible to miss their full scope. In all cases of diffi- 
culty he has an unfailing resource in an abundant stock of mother 
wit. This enables him to keep an audience in constant good humour. 
How can they feel angry with him when he makes them laugh ? 



73 

He has sufficient dogmatism, but not too much for his vocation ; 
and, moreover, it results from the strength of his argumentative 
powers. He is confident, not because he cannot give a reason, but 
because he can give twenty ; not because his strength lies in mere 
bluster and emphasis, but because he is conscious of being able to 
prove everything he says. He is not very courtly to an assailant, 
but he is fair and honest ; his roughest words are on his tongue ; 
the atmosphere becomes more genial the nearer you get to his heart, 

It was not quite of his own accoed that Mr. Grant entered upon 
his present career. It was felt that a stop should be put to the 
vapouring of Mr. Holyoake ; and from Mr. Grant's previous charac- 
ter it was thought difficult to find a man better suited for the task. 
For several years he has been the conductor of a monthly serial 
entitled The Bible and the People, most of the articles in which are 
from his own pen. The line of argument adopted in that journal 
suggested a comparison with the Reasoner, and brought him into 
collision with Mr. Holyoake. These circumstances led to his being 
requested to make this department of labour more fully his own — 
a request with which he complied. His reputation for controversy 
was, however, fully established before he took that step, and descends 
from his college days. He was quite a " crack man" at Glasgow : 
he carried off the head prizes in the logic and moral philosophy 
classes, together with, if we mistake not, a University medal, besides 
winning one of the prizes which were offered, about the same time, 
by the Anti-state Church Association, for essays on the Anti-state 
Church question. He was also a leading orator of the ' Liberal 
party ' in the University, in great request at Lord Rector elections, 
and meetings for agitating the question of University tests. His 
-reputation lingered behind him, among two or three generations of 
students, as a generally clever fellow, and especially a redoubted 
polemic. On leaving college his first charge was at Prescot, near 
Liverpool, where he remained several years, till he removed to Bir- 
mingham., His success at Birmingham has been considerable. The 
titles he has given to some of his printed lectures are richly 
humourous: 'The Swallowell Family,' — how descriptive of the 
-present generation of the Wilberforces ; f Orations to the Oratorians,' 
- —here Brewin Grant takes his stand side by side with the Very Rev. 
Dr. Newman, and each waxes lovelier by contrast. 

Mr. Grant's lectures at the Corn Exchange, Manchester, treated 
largely on matters relating to the personal character and sentiments 
of the leaders of the Secularist movement. On Monday night, his 
object was to show that Christianity is the only true Secularism, 



74 

selecting for his text the words of Christ, ' How much is a man 
better than a sheep ! ' and showing that the high value which 
Christianity sets upon the individual man lies at the foundation of 
all the humanising ideas of the present age. His argument was, 
that Secularism, by denying man's higher nature, is fatal to man's 
dignity. The subject of Tuesday's night lecture was, \ The last 
trial by jury for Atheism.' It was a searching analysis of Mr. 
Holyoake's conduct, in reference to the prosecution which he under- 
went for blasphemy. Mr. Grant undertook to prove the following 
propositions. — j That the language for which Mr, Holyoake was prose- 
cuted was foolish, illogical, and blasphemous ; that it was foolish, 
nevertheless, by bringing him to trial for it, to give him the prestige 
of a martyr : that, after all, it was not Christianity that sent him to 
gaol ; and that his conduct in gaol, as well as the conduct of his 
disciples towards him, constituted a miserable illustration of infidel 
principles.' Under this last head a very powerful contrast was 
drawn between Holyoake and John Bunyan. The former pro- 
nounced a few months' durance hardly tolerable, and anticipated 
the possibility of losing his reason, by an arrangement for commit- 
ting suicide. Poor John Bunyan sustained an imprisonment of 
eleven years without despair, and almost without repining. His 
happiness was a problem which his honest gaoler could not under- 
stand ; the latter did not know that the genius and piety of his cap- 
tive made him the freest man in all England. While Bunyan's 
fingers were busily employed in making; tags for the support of his 
family, his fancy was bounding along the narrow path beyond the 
Wicket Gate ; feasting itself in the house Beautiful ; descending 
the valley of Humiliation ; vanquishing Apollyon ; walking with 
the shepherds on the Delectable Mountains, or crossing the Black 
Biver, and ascending with the shining ones to the Celestial City. 
Mr. Grant concluded a parallel, beautifully and powerfully drawn, 
by exclaiming — [ You may imprison an Infidel, but you cannot 
imprison a Christian !' The Wednesday lecture, which we had not 
an opportunity of hearing, related to the American \ Confessions 
and Correspondence' of Mr. J. Barker." 

At the commencement of my mission I gave the lecture to the 
working classes, in connection with the Congkegational Union 
meetings at Bradford, for which occasion I composed the basis of 
my subsequently celebrated lecture on " How much is a man better 
than a sheep : or, Christianity the true Secularism ; as the best 
security for man's rights and duties in this life." Aiterwards I gave, by 
appointment, an address to the Congregational Union on the relation 
of the working classes to religion, with some account of my misson. 



75 

Chapter VIII. 

METHOD OF CONDUCTING MY THEEE YEARS' 

MISSION, 

With Specimens of Infidel Questions and Christian Answers. 

If a shorthand reporter had gone round with me and taken a 
verbatim report of each sermon and lecture, and of the questions 
and answers at the close of my week evening meetings, it would 
have formed a volume that would have paid his expenses and mine. 

I took notes of some, and published them in " The Bible and the 
People," of which I have, unhappily, not a complete set left ; but a 
few specimens from notes and memory may be interesting and useful. 

My two most favourite "travelling sermons" were on "The Barrel 
of Meal, and Cruise of Oil" and on "A Place of Repentance, or 
Esau's Birthright." In the first I especially dwelt on those tem- 
poral straits of distress and poverty, to which all are occasionally 
reduced ; and on those providential deliverances by which, somehow in 
general, we get through. I divided the subject into three parts. 

I. — God's Providence for man's temporal wants and the necessities 
of all inferior creatures, in that " barrel of meal and cruise of oil," — 
the teeming and fertile earth, from which, out of the remnants of the 
last year's growth, on which the world could not live a month, God 
works this annual miracle of making a little into much. 

II. — Man's Providence, by which we, out of our poverty, like 
that poor widow, help a neighbour who is poorer, and get no loss 
by it. While the help being given to a prophet, suggested that the 
poorest have the honour of aiding in religion, which in turn takes 
their children — like the prophet with the widow's child — into an 
: upper room and breathes new life, a divine life, into them, in some 
Sunday school, and takes them back to their parents, saying — " See, 
thy son liveth," both for earth and for heaven. 

III. — God's Providence for Man's Spiritual Wants, in that 
"cruise of oil and barrel of meai" — the Bible, which we cannot empty, 
where the few loaves feed thousands and there is still bread enough 
and to spare for thousands more : — as a little fountain by the road- 
side fills some hollow or trough, at the bottom of which, through 
the clear water, we may perceive a little sand just moved, as the 
stream quietly issues from some inexhaustible source ; so this crystal 
fountain is placed by the dusty road of life, and one and another 
drinks and goes on refreshed, leaving it full, flowing, pure, and free, 
till the latest travellers on earth's pilgrimage shall have passed by 
and found it springing up into everlasting life. 
d2 



76 

The other sermon, " on Esau not finding a place of repentance. ." 
dealt more directly with Bible difficulties and religious fears ; those 
darker views of passages, darkened by words without knowledge, 
and by traditional misapprehensions; as thus : — " Many shall seek to 
enter in and shall not be able:" on which some say that this is their 
case, whereas they put a full stop in the wrong place, — for they 
shall not be able, — ''when once the Master of the House hath risen up 
and shut to the door." But now he has risen up and opened the door 
and no man can shut it. Strive to enter in now, at the gate of 
salvation, while you may, for many will try in vain afterwards in 
the next world, when the opportunity is closed. These were some 
of the points in my second favourite "travelling sermon." I remem- 
ber giving it in Sukbey Chapel, to working people, one Sunday 
afternoon. At the close of the service the Rev. Newman Hall, 
minister of that chapel, thanked me greatly for my well-adapted 
address, but this was before " the Rivulet controversy." 

About the same time, at the request of the London " Christian 
Instruction Society," I gave a series of lectures in the back slums 
of London. I think one place was called Little Hell, from its 
great ignorance and wickedness. 

I remember that at one of these I gave the lecture on " How 
much is a man better than a sheep :" when one very smart fellow 
got up and told me that Grod "Had made the sheep better than 
man, for that the former had their clothes grow on their backs !" 
I answered that some men, like some books, were bound in sheep- 
skin ; but that it was very ungrateful to reproach the Creator for 
not making our coats grow on our backs, when He had given us 
the capacity of making our own clothes after shearing the sheep, 
which we could also eat into the bargain. 

The audience agreed with me that man had the best of it, even 
secularly considered ; as to chances of a grand immortality, of course 
there was no comparison. 

One very clever London fellow posed me this way : — " You said 
that a monkey could learn tricks till he could beat the man that led 
him ; then does not this show that a monkey is equal to a man ?" I 
could not deny the possibility of such a case, but said I, you should 
remember that I told you the man taught the monkey and not the 
monkey the man ; and in this point of being original the man bore 
the palm. 

All these things were taken very good-humouredly, and rather 
heightened than diminished the moral and religious impression, 
while they took conceit out of small infidel leaders and gave good 



77 

Christian people confidence, no more to fear a jibe which they could 
not answer ; for as Mr. Robert Stark, secretary to the Glasgow 
Young Men's Association said :— " Thousands of working men in 
Scotland answered their old tormentors, by saying, f Aye ! but you 
could na answer Brewin Grant ! ' " 

These London audiences were composed of very poor people 
many of whom came to shake hands with me and thank me, some 
with tears and devout blessings, as they left the rooms. 

Part of this time I was accompanied by the Rev. Robt. Ashton, 
editor of the Congregational Year Book, at whose house also I stayed 
a few nights. He was then secretary of the London " Christian 
Instruction Society." Other lecturers were also engaged to fill up 
the course, which while the society continued was repeated annually. 

Professor Godwin was on the list of lecturers at this time, and 
he came to one of my appearances to form an opinion before-hand 
of the kind of audience he would have to address. He came to me 
at the close, expressed his interest in my lecture, said he had come 
to see how it was done, and concluded by saying that he " had 
watched my career with interest and satisfaction." 

At the close of one of my lectures in the provinces, a man got up 
and asked " If I am as honest as you are, why should you go to 
heaven and me to hell ?" To which I replied that he began modestly 
with "if," and certainly I doubted whether he was honest, for if he 
was, he was the only one of his sect that I had found to be so ; 
and his question proved that he was not. I asked if any of the 
people present had attended a Sunday school, and I was met with. 
replies of "yes." Then were you, I asked — "taught in any 
Sunday school, as a part of Christianity, that you went to heaven 
for being honest ? Was that the ground of going to heaven ?" "No," 
they replied. " Then what was the ground ?" I asked. " Through 
Jesus Christ, " they said. Then you go to heaven as sinners 
forgiven ? ' ' Yes ' ' was the answer. f ' Not as honest men deserving it, 
for your honesty ?" said I. "No." Yet this man knowing this asks — 
" Why, if he were as honest as I am, he should not go to heaven as 
well as I ; whereas we all know that it is not for being good, but on 
condition of our confessing and acknowledging that we are bad, that 
we are forgiven, and that we have a title for heaven through faith 
in Christ." And that title, I added, is open for him, and if he goes 
to heaven he will not go for being an honest man, but he will be 
an honest man if he through faith in Christ gets in the road for 
heaven. This incident gave me an occasion for explaining to the 
audience the nature of the atonement. 
d3 



78 

At another meeting, an adroit and sensible question was put of 
this sort — "If I am an honest enquirer after the truth, and am not 
able to find it, and still disbelieve in Christianity, shall I be lost 
for being an honest enquirer because I am unable to learn the truth ?" 
I complimented the questioner upon his question, but I put it 
honestly to him whether he was an honest enquirer, or whether in 
fact, while I had been giving my lecture, he was not thinking of his 
objection instead of thinking of my arguments — whether he did not 
say to himself every now and then " I shall puzzle you when you 
have done ?" The man smiled as if in acknowledgment that this 
was the fact, and I said, in that case you were not an honest enquirer 
after the truth, but you were holding this up before your eyes to hide 
the truth which I was stating ; you know your little finger will hide 
a mountain if you only hold it close enough to your eyes. Further 
I added, as a frank solution of his question, that I did not believe 
such a case ever really would happen ; that there might possibly be 
honest infidels— I did not say there were not — but whoever was an 
honest enquirer after the truth would be permitted to see the truth, 
as sure as he was an honest enquirer ; and if nry questioner was 
an honest enquirer himself, he would yet become an earnest believer 
in Christ, for "he that seeketh, findeth." 

Balaam's ass is a favourite topic with some of the objectors to 
the Bible. On one occasion, in the theatre at Sheffield, a gentle- 
man from among the "gods" put out his head and enquired what 
I thought about the Bible saying that Balaam's ass spoke ? Several 
other persons also made objections, which I took in the reverse 
order, beginning with the last. My questioner in the gallery evi- 
dently felt his dignity hurt, and he called out eagerly that I had not 
answered him,. I replied, "I reserve you for the last— a good one 
for the last, you know." When his turn came, I said to him, "Now 
what is your question ?" He answered, "Does Mr. Grant believe 
that Balaam's ass spoke?" I replied pointedly to him, "Why 
shouldn't I ? It might have been a miracle in those times ; but it is 
a very common thing now-a-days." 

Another gentleman observed to me in the street, " Mr. Grant, 
I am told you say I am as stupid as Balaam's ass." I said, " No, 
I did not say that." " Well," said he, "I thought you would not 
say such a thing of me." " No," I replied, " I would not mention 
you and Balaam's ass in the same day. Do you know why ? " 
" No," said he, feeling rather relieved, but scarcely flattered. 
" Well," said I, " the miracle was not that Balaam's ass sjjoke, but 
that ass spoke sense, which makes all the difference in the world." 



79 

; - Speaking of Balaam's ass reminds me by contrast of Mr. Kobert 
Cooper, then a very great card among the Free-thinking brethren. He 
wrote " The Infidel's Text Book," which served as the basis for a 
very good lecture. This learned Theban found St. Paul out in a 
contradiction, for the apostle said in one place that he was a Phari- 
see, and in another that he was a Boman : " such," exclaimed this 
logician, " is the consistency of Paul ! " On which it was observed, 
"I heard Grant once say that he was an Independent, and at 
another time that he was an Englishman ! " Such is the stupidity 
of the Infidel's Text Book scribe. When I was lecturing on this 
book in Newcastle-on-Tyne I unconsciously gave some expressions 
of contempt — as " ach ! " — when reading this gentleman's quotation 
of an insult on the Eedeemer, and on the working classes — as " only 
the son of a carpenter : " and to my " ach, " a person in the audi- 
ence responded in mockery; whereupon I enquired, "Don't you 
know that it is only a hollow place that makes an echo?" The 
ship carpenters saw it and broke out. 

The next best there, was that a person having rather vehemently 
abused me, the audience cried out to stop him. I begged them to 
S let him go on, as I always liked people to see what was inside 
these men." On this he apologized in this fashion : he was only 
retaliating, as I had " called him a fool the night before." This 
was denied by the audience ; and I observed that I generally spoke 
English, but " did not remember calling the gentleman by that 
name: besides," I added, " it was so perfectly unnecessary." At 

the same place a curious scene occurred. One Mr. J. C , the 

secretary of the Secular Society, whom on a previous evening I had 
complimented as an apparently honest enquirer, came forward to 
reply to my lecture on Cooper's Infidel Text Book, in which I had 
pointed out the author's blunder in talking of Professor Somebody's 
"admirable predilections" and made merry with his learned 

pedantry. Mr. J. C came forward with great gravity to the 

front of the platform, and described my whole lecture as founded on 
the criticism of a word which, said he, was a printer's mistake, for 
that he had a later edition in which " predilections" did not occur ; 
and He- read the passage as amended : however, he did not put in 
"prelections" for " predilections," but simply omitted that part of 
the sentence. I quietly asked him to favour me with a sight of his 
later edition, and begged him to go on with his speech while I 
glanced at the amended page. He did so, concluding with remind- 
ing the audience that my lecture was only a joke on a misprint 
which had been corrected. As he passed by me to leave the plat- 



80 

form, I (still seated by the table) directed bis attention to the 
passage he had read, saying quietly, — " Do you see this V He 
stooped towards me and seemed rather blind, saying, — " What ?" 
I said, — "Do you see it?" The audience perceiving this panto- 
mime, began to call out for some explanation. I told him in a very 
low voice to go back and tell the people that the word I had quoted 
was in his book as well as in mine. He was in a fix, but obliged to 
obey ; and advancing said : — " Ladies and gentlemen, it-it-is here." 
The effect may be imagined. I simply told the people that from 
this incident they must learn to believe me "to the very syllable," 
whatever their " predilections" might be : though I acknowledged 
to one mistake in believing and saying the night before that the 
gentleman who had just retired was an honest enquirer. 

The conceited author of this " Infidel Text Book" was lecturing 
in Blackburn one night on my arrival there ; and contrary to my 
custom — not to give interest to infidel meetings by my presence, ta 
relieve the dull monotony of their lecture by importing foreign wit, 
or the interest of an important visitor — I went in to see the affair, 
and should have come out without speaking, but the chairman 
having been told of my presence graciously invited me to reply. 
Mr. Cooper said it was scarcely fair to mention me personally if I 
did not intend presenting myself before the audience. I accepted 
both the invitation and the apology ; and having spoiled his lecture 
invited him to try and answer mine the following evening, on his 
" Text Book" in Park school-room, when I engaged to prove that a 
greater numbskull never wrote, and that no author ever told more — 
of both sorts — black and white ones, — in the same space except 
Mr. J. B. Mr. Cooper did not accept the offer, and I told his 
audience that he " was wise," but that I knew they would all come ; 
that they could not help it ; that they would also be obliged to 
believe me and never would believe him any more. The large Park 
school was crowded, and I put this proposition to the vote, — * That 
nobody could hereafter pretend to believe ' the Infidel's Text Book,' 
and that its author was no more blessed with courage than with 
truth." 

I could not get one to hold up his hand against the proposition ; 
so it was carried unanimously, in an audience composed almost 
exclusively of working men. 

; aaw 



81 

Chaptee IX. 

DISCUSSION WITH MR. GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE, 

IN COWPER-STREET, LONDON, 1852. 

Towards the close of the socialistic agitation headed by Mr. 
Robert Owen, some of his disciples or agents started in other lines 
of infidel advocacy ; the chief of them was Mr. G. J. Holyoake, 
who pressed the war with great vigour and adroitness. Like that 
saint who " shone in the dark," this gentleman managed, among the 
lot with which he associated, to be distinguished for comparative 
gentleness and a tearful solicitude to find out the truth. He sus- 
tained this character very well at times, and was quite a card on 
show days : extremely polite where he could not be advantageously 
insolent, and "tame" when it was unadvisable to be " rancorous." 
Among the more fastidious friends of free theology who combined 
the respectability of religion with the luxury of a " little latitude," 
Mr. Holyoake was "the pet of the whole brigade." He could 
sneer at a parson and jeer at the Saviour, and mock the saints ; 
but then, like Uriah Heep, he was " a numble individual " who 
would gladly believe, if the Almighty would not persecute him into 
it by pains and penalties which infringed on his liberty as an "eclec- 
tic" philosopher. He was a great hand at being persecuted, but 
he considered that to be criticised was a greater injury than to be 
imprisoned ; and he made a market out of both. As for his impri- 
sonment — for such sayings, as " I flee the Bible as a viper," "Revolt 
at the touch of a Christian," and " Don't believe there is such a 
thing as a God" — he willingly brought it on; since when it was 
explained in court that he simply meant that parsons were too 
expensive, he was told that if he did not mean to insult the Creator, 
but only to reproach the clergy, he might escape. 

On this point I demonstrated in numerous meetings, in a lecture 
on his book, " The Last Trial by Jury for Atheism," that " he 
willingly put his neck into a noose, and refused to take it out when 
the judge told him how." This was a famous proposition of mine, 
which I maintained against all comers in hundreds of meetings, 
which spoiled the market of " carrying that scar about" to gain sym- 
pathetic coppers. Besides his imprisonment for a time, which was 
a mistake on the part of those who prosecuted, his great misfortune 
was to be criticised : he liked to jibe at a good, dull soul, and was 
quite merry over a serious Christian ; but if ever he fell in with one 
who was as sceptical of the sceptics as they professed to be about 
Christianity, and who knew more of them than they did of it, he 



82 

took a serious turn, and was shocked at this irreverent treatment of 
an anxious enquirer. The disaster of his life and the termination, 
of his secular career was the permission to his admirers to invite me 
to discuss with him. He had already published his admiration of 
me as a model parson, liberal, fair, and rational in the pulpit ; more 
than just, even generous to infidels, in the press ; and in an evil 
hour : — expecting me to be as gentle as I was simple, if not softer than 
I looked, ready to abandon Christianity as a compliment to liberality, 
or at any rate to aid in erecting a half-way house ; — taking it for 
granted that geniality was next door to infidelity, and that a man 
who could laugh, would not stand up stiffly for anything solid and 
solemn, the party was induced to challenge me to discussion. It is 
but fair to say that Mr. Holyoake altered his opinion of me during 
the discussion, and not only repudiated all his former names and sen- 
timents, but retracted his recommendation of my spirit and writings, 
which he intimated were nearly as bad as his own. He could quote, 
he said, many illustrative passages, but would not stoop to 
it. So I reminded him of his former laudations in these words : — 
" However any may dislike these assertions, every one must admit 
that I have given plenty of proofs — that I can prove what I say to 
the minutest particular. Mr. Holyoake never quotes a passage I 
refer to, to prove me wrong ; he has not done so all through the 
discussion. The statement that he had praised The Bible and the 
People more than any one, he did not meet by reading his notice : 
that would have doubly confounded him. In his Cabinet of Reason, 
"Why do the clergy avoid discussion ?" a title to make one merry r 
he says, — 'I am bound to say the Kev. Brewin Grant, of Birmingham, 
is an instance (of exceptionable liberality.) I have heard him read 
one of our books from the pulpit. The Bible and the People, edited 
by him, gives the freest insertion to opposing views, and has in 
some instances uttered generous words of the writers.' (Vol. ii., 
pp. 26, 27). In his Reasoner, vol. xii., No. 24, Mr. Holyoake says 
of my review of his Trial for Atheism, — 'The same monthly (The 
Bible and the People) contains careful reviews of this work, by a 
writer who is more than impartial — he is generous. Another number 
contains entire 'The last days of Mrs. Emma Martin,' with critical 
remarks by the editor, we suppose, as in the former case. The 
remarks commence by the admission that ' death and sorrow are 
sacred,' which the critic does not violate in spirit. Some reply 
seems due from us, which we hope to be able to write.' This has 
not happened yet, though the article he thus praises is printed as a 
twopenny 'Finger Post,' by Ward and Co. 'We have placed The 



Bible and the People,' he says, ' among our weekly list of literature' 
for the people. It appears as a monthly, edited, we believe, by the 
Rev. Brewin Grant, B. A. , of Birmingham. Judging from the contents 
of the first sixteen numbers, it is the best of the controversial pub- 
lications devoted to the maintenance of evangelical principles. Our 
readers will find it well worthy of their perusal. Its tone is superior 
to anything we have encountered in the same Christian school. The 
numbers, as far as we have examined them, are critical, as well as 
instructive.' " 

The secular invitation to me to discuss was given June 16th, 1852. 
The debate occurred on six successive Thursday evenings, com- 
mencing January 20th, and ending February 24th, 1853. * 

"The Publisher's Preface" to the Cowper-street discussion says: 
— " one of Mr. Holyoake's friends wrote (June 16, 1852,) to Mr. 
Grant, saying ' The friends with whom I act would like to bring 
Mr. H. in contact with some one of acknowledged ability, so that 
we might have a foot to foot encounter. It occurs to us that you 
are a fit and proper person to engage in such a discussion, and if 
you would do so in this town (Leicester), we would do all in our 
power to expedite the arrangements.' 

"To this Mr. Grant replied a fortnight afterwards : — ' I should 
prefer discussing the value as well as the truth of Mr. Holyoake's 
whole mission, in some such theme as the following: — "What 
would be gained by mankind in general, and the working-classes in 
particular, as to this life, by the removal of Christianity and the 
substitution of Atheism in its place ? in other words, wherein con- 
sists the superiority of the Atheist's Gospel over the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ." ' 

L " This letter being forwarded to Mr. Holyoake, he replied to the 
writer of it, July 16 : — ' The first proposition you name as the 
subject of our debate, strikes me upon the first reading as a useful 
one with the change of one ivord (Secularism for Atheism). The 
proposition would then stand as follows : — " What would be gained 

• Mr. Reed, an admirable reporter, took down this debate, and it was revised 
by the disputants and published by their mutual consent. Some ten thousand 
copies -were sold. I was so well satisfied with Mr. Reed's accuracy that I secured 
his engagement for two subsequent debates, one of six nights, in Glasgow City 
Hall, with Mr. Holyoake ; and the other of ten nights, in Halifax, on the Bible, 
with Mr. Joseph Barkek. I hope some time, when sufficiently encouraged, to 
select, condense, and re-arrange, from these and other reports, the permanent, 
useful matter contained in them for the perusal of enquiring and thoughtful peo- 
ple ; and am convinced that few works would be more advantageous to the public. 
I once thought of doing this under the title of " A Hand-book to the Bible." 



84 

by mankind in general and the •working classes in particular, as to 
this life, by the removal of Christianity and substituting Secularism 
in its place." By Secularism is meant giving the precedence to the 
duties of this life over those which pertain to another world. The 
leading points with respect to Secularism that I undertake to ex- 
plain are : — 

1. "That attention to temporal things should take precedence 
of considerations relating to a future existence." 

2. " That science is the providence of life, and that spiritual 
dependence in human affairs may lead to material destruction." 

3. That there exist (independently of scriptural religion) gua- 
rantees of morality in human nature, in intelligence and utility." : 

" Mr. Holyoake nominated as his committee Messrs. James 
Watson, Eichard Moore, Austin J. Holyoake, and the Rev. Ebenezsr 
Syme, (Unitarian.) 

"Mr. Grant's committee were the Eevds. J. Campbell, D.D., 
Robert Ashton, and Messrs. Samuel Morlev, Samuel Priestley, and 
J. S. Crisp (of Ward and Co.) 

" The Rev. Ebenezer Syme acted as chairman for Mr. Holyoake, 
and Mr. Samuel Morley for Mr. Grant ; the Rev. Howard Hinton 
being nominated as umpire. 

" The proof sheets of this report have been read by both dispu- 
tants and the report is published with their joint consent. 

" 27, Paternoster-row, April, 1853." 

The preliminary correspondence forced Mr. Holyoake to lower 
his flag in his first speech, and the criticisms on his vague " bene- 
fits" of Secularism, forced him to repudiate the subject of debate as 
early as the second evening. The rest of his time was taken up 
mainly with appeals for pity, and attempts to fasten a charge of 
great wickedness on his opponent, for the sin of free criticism. 
He evidently repented before he began, and for all the impudent 
boasts and challenges with which he and his party had pestered and 
insulted the clergy and the ministers all over the country, he 
assumed the most modest, humble, and servile tone, to gain a pitiful 
sympathy as his shield in an encounter that he had invoked and 
dreaded. 

He abandoned and repudiated all his old words and methods in 
his first speech, sajdng, "The secularist applied himself to the 
re-inspection of the general field of controversy, and the result was, 
the adoption of the following rules : — ' First, to disuse the term 
atheist;' second, to disuse the term infidel;' third, to recognize 
■ — (for the first time) not (!) as a matter of policy (!) merely, but as 



85 

a matter of fact — the sincerity of the clergy, and the good intentions 
of Christians generally.'" This was whitewashing for the occasion. 
Only think of those Jesuitical words : — " to recognize not as a matter 
of policy merely but as a matter of fact!" 

This was from the most atrociously abusive writer that ever 
maligned the Christian world, and who got a testimonial from the 
Christian Spectator, a dissenting organ of congenial " liberality" in 
abuse. 

Besides this " re-inspection" of old titles and accusations, to 
start with a new character, the entire former method of action was 
ignored and the " doctrine of reserve" was openly advocated. " We 
believe in relative truth and discretionary silence. " " We say ' dis- 
cretionary silence,' because publicity without discretion involves pre- 
mature utterances ; instead of always serving, it sometimes endangers 
truth." That is, it does not do to let out too much ! " To keep the 
truth back when it can be serviceable, is indeed a serious fault ; yet 
to suffer it to be dragged forward to be destroyed is to betray the 
truth." Now why it should be " destroyed" by being " dragged 
forward" is very curious, and my work in that and subsequent dis- 
cussions was to " drag forward" what he tried. to veil in a " discre- 
tionary silence." " He who without conditions (i.e. suppressions), 
exposes truth to unwilling ears and prejudiced minds who seek its 
destruction, may be guilty of the murder of truth." So he took to a 
" mask" which. I pulled off, and he screamed fearfully. For he 
began by saying : — " We claim the right of discretionary silence, — ■ 
of profiting by our experience, and choosing when we will speak, to 
whom we will speak, and, — out of all the truth we think we have 
mastered, — how much we will speak." This included " how much" 
it might be " discretionary" to suppress. But I had tracked them all 
through, like a detective and " murdered" their " truth" by " drag- 
ging it forward" into daylight. 

This he anticipated, saying: — "No sooner did we betake our- 
selves to the more practical part of our advocacy than ' a Mission' 
was bespoken against us." This was his horror, and he wisely but 
ineffectually all through endeavoured to convince the patrons of 
" the Mission" that General Grant was the worst man they could 
employ. My opening speech indicated the spirit in which I con- 
sidered such questions should be treated; the knowledge of the 
adversary's course, which his " discretionary silence" was not per- 
mitted to conceal, and the anticipation of that natural revenge that 
would be excited, as against " epithets," by any just criticism of 
these pretenders to truthful free enquiry. I still agree with every 



86 

word of the following, and consider it useful and applicable to all 
times : — 

" It is impossible for me to convey an adequate idea of the heavy 
weight of responsibility under which I commence, and with which I 
have anticipated this discussion, knowing as I do, that whatever 
others may say against our responsibility for belief, we cannot escape 
the consequences of our actions, and of those dispositions and opinions 
in which actions originate ; believing, as I do, that if there be any 
human duty, this is the first and foremost, to seek the truth honestly, 
to inquire with fairness, and search with scrupulous conscientiousness. 
Whatever may be the carelessness with which we write or speak on 
other occasions, when we presume to guide or oppose others on 
important questions, there is a grave responsibility resting on speaker 
and hearer. When I consider the many readers who may ponder 
the words uttered, if there be any justice or injustice, if a man may 
benefit or injure another, if there be any social duty, there is no 
more sacred obligation than to refrain from misleading, and to do all 
in our power towards helping men in those things in which we may 
do them the most harm or the most good. My anxiety is not on 
this occasion lest Christianity should be overthrown, that is settled 
in my own mind as an impossibility ; I am anxious only that my 
fellow-men should not be misled into the rejection of that which I; 
believe is for their benefit, the truth of which is not at all interfered 
with by their acceptance or rejection of it, but the acceptableness of 
which may be interfered with by the imperfections of its professors, 
and by the unskilfulness of its defenders. The proper and best 
defence of Christianity is, that it be understood — as the best refuta- 
tion of infidelity is an exposition of it, which, if truly done, amounts 
to an exposure. My main object, therefore, will not be so much to 
defend Christianity as to show you how often it has been misre- 
presented, and especially to show that Secularism is not worth 
having, whether Christianity be continued or not, and that therefore 
no " benefits" can come from its introduction. It is enough to show 
this ; and if in doing so I advance opinions for which secularists are 
not prepared, they have to consider two things ; first, that I have 
carefully read and marked every page that has issued from the 
Heasoner office, and therefore may be presumed to know as well as 
any one, the proceedings and writings of that section of infidels. Nor 
is any original lecturer on Socialism better acquainted with the 
opinions of Robert Owen, from which Secularism sprung, than I am, 
and have been for the space of twelve years. Some opinions may 
therefore be advanced which, to those who look only at modified 



87 

sentiments and statements, may seem extreme and unjust, but may- 
still be very well maintained by unquestionable facts. Secondly, 
any who are surprised at some assertions, are requested also to 
consider the possibility of my being able, after a consideration as 
extensive as they who believe in Secularism have given to the subject, 
to give a conscientious and intelligent opinion as to my conclusion 
on the matter. If I employ any epithets, let them not be taken as 
a reason for not examining whether the epithets are not just con- 
clusions from previous arguments. Nor let it be set down as bigotry 
or personality, if I do not take the cheap professions of any men as 
to their justice or liberality, but proceed at once to disprove their 
pretensions. We make a grave mistake when, respecting matters 
of opinion, we speak of toleration or charity. We owe all men the 
justice (not the charity or toleration) of conceding all the liberty we 
demand for ourselves, according to the golden rule of Christianity, — 
which need not be 'removed' to secure freedom, — ''Whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' If this be 
immoral or illiberal, it is my adopted rule of morality, and standard 
of rational freedom. But as to opinions themselves, if false we are 
to oppose them ; they have no claim to charity, and justice consists 
in removing them by all reasonable means ; whilst in relation to 
individuals we are to pursue a course of impartial justice. It is not 
illiberal to prove that some teachers are deceivers. It is bigotry to 
charge men with faults without proof: it is justice towards the 
leaders of opinion, it is justice and kindness combined towards their 
followers, to unmask whatever is deceptive ; for they cannot be 
truly the friends of any man, least of all the friends of truth, who 
are not the friends of honesty." 

"These remarks being general and applicable to both sides, will 
we hope, be satisfactory to those whose opinions we shall call in 
question. We hope to say nothing about either the advocates of 
infidelity or any other system that we shall not be able to make 
good ; and all that is asked of those who differ from us is, — to 
consider, not whether they like what we say, but whether it is true." 

The close, logical, unsparing criticism with which I exposed the 
secular proposals of " preferring the duties of this life to those of 
another," — when first, the duties are identical, and we are not in 
another life yet, and secondly when another life is denied, under the 
cloak of preferring tMs, and " service to humanity" recommended, to 
cover a denial of Divinity and to withdraw from the service of God ; 
and a care for the body recommended, as a veil to hide the neglect 
of the soul ; and the immoral and absurd position of preferring this, 



life to another, if there be another ; and the hypocrisy of the talk of 
this preference, by those who believe only in one : — all this cruel 
ratiocination and persecuting criticism quite disturbed the placid 
conceit of the infidel party which had altered its name to conceal 
its principles. 

Pressed by these arguments, Mr. Holyoake screamed at epithets 
and retracted the proposition which he so cheerfully accepted ! 

Thus, in his second speech on the second evening, Mr. Holyoake, 
after saying, as was his custom whenever he felt that even his own 
party would feel the logical force of his opponent's statements, — 
" If this is the kind of opposition to which our views are to be sub- 
jected, I see no objection to it," he added, — "First, however, I ought 
perhaps on this night to make an announcement. In our last night's 
debate we were several times told that I proposed to remove Chris- 
tianity and substitute Secularism in its place. These were the 
w t oeds of the general PROPOSITION which was read from the chair ; 
but that proposition was of Mr. Grant's own writing, and the extra- 
vagant element in it was of his own invention. Why I accepted the 
proposition Mr. Grant drew up was this, — that he told me it meant 
in other words, ' Wherein consists the superiority of our gospel 
over the gospel of Jesus Christ ?' This is a reasonable enquiry ; 
but the words ' removal of Christianity and the substitution of 
Secularism' are words which he has put into my mouth, and for the 
extravagance of which I did not foresee that he intended to make 
me responsible." (p. 60-1 Cowper-street Discussion.) 

This adroit retirement from the proposition which he had come 
to maintain, and the insinuation that it was not what he willingly 
adopted after mending it to suit his taste, called up Mr. Morley, 
who was my chairman, and who at the close of Mr. Holyoake's 
speech is thus reported : — 

"lam anxious for one minute to set myself right with Mr. Holy- 
oake. I was a party, as one of the chairmen, last week, to the 
reading of the following sentence — it was read by Mr. Syme, Mr. 
Holyoake's chairman : — ' What advantages would accrue to mankind 
generally, and the working classes in particular, by the removal of 
Christianity and the substitution of Secularism in its place.' Now, 
on my honour, I would be no party, if I knew it, to any proceeding 
in connection with this discussion that was not perfectly fair and 
perfectly straightforward. I understood Mr. Holyoake to say that 
this sentence is Mr. Grant's, and not his. Now I was present at a 
meeting at which Mr. Syme (Mr. Holyoake's chairman), and Mr. 
Holyoake's brother, were present, and I distinctly understood that 



89 

the phrase as it was read was adopted by Mr. Holyoake. I wish to 
have that made perfectly straight and clear ; otherwise I have been 
a party to misrepresentation. I beg to insist on an answer to this. 
Mr, Holyoake's brother will do me the justice to say whether I am 
right or wrong in what I have said." 

"Mr. Holyoake: — It is my place to answer the question. I 
accepted the proposition. I said so in the words I used. I said, 
' Why I accepted the proposition Mr. Grant drew up was because he 
told me it meant in other words, wherein consists the superiority of 
our gospel, or views, over the gospel of Jesus Christ.' I thought it 
was in that sense that he would use them, and that he would not 
make me responsible for the extravagant element in them — that of 
wishing to remove the whole of Christianity." 

" Mr. Mokley: — I am bound to say I recognise these words as 
having been used by Mr. Holyoake — -I say it frankly. But the 
impression surely ivas that the proposition ivas Mr. Grant's, and that 
there had not been a clear understanding." 

"Mr. Grant : — Mr. Chairman, I quite understand the nature of 
Mr. Holyoake's in direct disavowal and direct avowal of the statement 
that he has come this evening to discuss. It would have been very 
much better if he had plainly made any opposition to it when we 
discussed it in letters beforehand. However, I need say nothing 
upon that subject, but simply tell you that as Mr. Holyoake agreed 
that the correspondence should be the preface to this discussion, you 
will quite understand the whole of that question. I think in 
nearly every speech Mr. Holyoake has commenced by saying — If 
this is the sort of opposition we are to have, we need not fear much. 
Invariably he has commenced with some disparaging observations 
of that kind. He does not now propose to ' remove Christianity,' 
and if he did, he could not remove it. The proposition which 
he calls my extravagance, he was extravagant enough to adopt, 
and not wise enough to complain of it till now that he cannot 
maintain it." 

Mr. Holyoake, who had been petted, and toadied, and spoiled, 
and been begged to believe, and had jeered at the good souls who 
prayed for him, was much excited and fretted by a more inde- 
pendent sort of treatment, in which the scepticism which he so 
boastfully entertained respecting the claims of Jesus was entertained 
as to his own. This was a sin against free enquiry. Hence, on the 
last evening, he complained that, " Throughout this discussion our 
adversary has addressed us in the tone which marked our previous 
correspondence." (219.) This should have been a warning to him 



90 

to withdraw from an encounter with " nibbling logic and a biting 
sarcasm." 

The whole tone of his party was checked ; and from the ridiculous 
triumph with which they grinned at good men who wasted solemnity 
on them, felt quite astonishment and anger at my free handling of 
their high priest, who himself took to the solemn line. He also 
dealt considerably in appeals to the pity of spectators, and wanted 
very much to induce my friends to excommunicate me for my daring 
criticisms. Every argument against his professed principles was 
treated as a personal accusation. " I have a right to ask " he says, 
(page 183) " that everywhere in this country we shall no longer be 
represented as preaching doctrines injurious to mankind." But 
while he considered it persecution to represent his doctrines as 
injurious, one of his propositions for that debate was " The Atone- 
ment unsatisfactory as a scheme, and immoral as an example." 
This, however, he was driven out of; and said he did not mean 
" immoral " in the English sense of the word. But what is here 
insisted on as a lesson is, that Free thinkers of all sorts loudly claim 
freedom to denounce other people's sentiments, and resent criticism 
of their own, as an infringement of their rights. He told the people 
that my way of treating him was worse than imprisonment, and I 
believed him ; for to put him in prison would properly awaken sym- 
pathy, while to answer and expose his assertions would put him in 
the pillory of criticism, which he pretended to ask for and did not like. 
A favourite phrase of his, to relieve his feelings, was to call argu- 
ments that troubled him "The art of making Christianity disagree- 
sble," (page 250) as if he rather liked it, till he could not answer its 
advocates. 

After applying this phrase emphatically to me, he went on in this 
furious fashion: — "And while you stand with one hand on the 
Bible, and the other thus at our throats, and cry ' Believe ! 
or we denounce you as infamous in life and deserving perdition in 
death,' you deepen the conviction on my mind that the f glad 
tidings of the gospel ' merely mean good-will to those who believe as 
you believe, and ill-icill to all who do not. It was my duty the 
other night to show that Christianity justified persecution/ 1 ' Now 
what is the difference between the spirit in which we are addressed 
and that of the persecutor ?" (page 256) This was slightly "personal ;" 
but directly after, he says of his " persecutor " — " I have nowhere 
called in question his sincerity, or the purity of his motives;" as if 
he were not doing it then, in a meek kind of way. 

* He failed to show it, and this makes him so gentle. 



91 

In my next speech I observed, " if Mr.Holyoake does not 'question 
my motives' he cannot blame my conduct ;" and " if what I have 
said is not true, Mr. Holyoake should disprove it." (page 258.) 
These are points which those men never think of. 

But to return to our ruffled debater, he declared passionately : — 
"Why, during my six months' imprisonment in Gloucester gaol, for 
answering a question of a local preacher in Cheltenham, neither by 
the crown lawyer, nor by Mr. Justice Erskine, nor by the chaplain, 
the Rev. Robert Cooper, was language used to me half so bad as 
that which has been applied to me* during this discussion ; and I 
now see that less injustice is done to me by a legal persecution by 
the . Church of England, than in a discussion with an Independent 
Dissenting minister. Mr. Grant will see in this only another jj grand 
compliment to his argument;' but the public will see in it something 
very different. In discussions with other ministers, when I have 
pointed out the spirit of acerbity which Christianity seemed to me 
to justify, they denied my conclusions, and I have said, — ' Wait till 
we meet some accredited Evangelical minister, and then you shall 
see ;' and when Mr. Grant's attention was drawn last night to his 
own conduct, you heard the reply, which ought not, and which shall 
not be soon forgotten, f I shall justify the conduct of Christ, Whose 
example justifies my own course.'' And Mr. Grant is right. The 
Scriptures fully bear him out." 

" That whatever treatment we have experienced in this discussion 
is scriptural, we have the further testimony of the British Banner, 
which last week declared, on the part of the intelligent and numerous 
body of Evangelical Christians who put Mr. Grant forward, that 'he 
completely meets their views as to the manner in which the thing 
ought to be gone about.' " (P. 257.) 

My constant plan was to keep reviewing the ground gone over, 
and hold up the main point of debate ; as on the same evening, I 
observed : — " It becomes my duty once more to see that the object 
and conditions of this discussion shall be clearly understood. The 
general proposition is now well known, — \ What benefits would be 
gained by mankind in general, and the working classes in particular, 
as to this life, by the removal of Christianity and the substitution of 
Secularism in its place.' Mr. Holyoake adopted and signed this, 
having altered it by omitting the term Atheistic, that ' our religions 
might ' not f come into collision,' for he has kept his own out of 
] _ 

* Mr. Holyoake regarded every proof of the immoral tendency of his doctrines 
as a personal accusation ; and applied it all to himself, whether properly or not. 



92 

sight. Whatever has not tended to establish this general propo- 
sition has been beside the mark. But Mr. Holyoake disavowed this 
proposition on the second evening, and therefore virtually abandoned 
the object of this discussion, as too extravagant even for him to 
maintain : and he adopted the course, not of removing Christianity, 
but of stealing from it, to adorn his own barren annals with the 
spoils of ' the Charlatan Christ.' He advanced two pretexts for 
this evasion ; first, that the proposition he adopted was explained 
away by the proposition he rejected, and that whilst Christianity is 
to be explained literally, in all its figures, he is not literally bound 
to a signature that was not figurative." 

" The second pretext for his evasion was, that the proposition 
originated with me ; therefore, though he signed it, he does not 
pretend to maintain it ; and this course would render all debate 
impossible, since the proposition must originate with one side, and 
Mr. Holyoake has taught the other side to repudiate what they 
sign, because it did not commence with them. The main proposition, 
signed by both disputants, and agreed upon by two committees, 
Mr. Holyoake did on the second night abandon, and decried the 
assertion he came here to maintain." 

The great point secured in this debate, besides carrying my side 
of the proposition, was to abate the nuisance to which clergy and 
ministers had been exposed of perpetual challenges. 

As I observed : — " This point then is securely gained, in con- 
nexion with this discussion, that, whereas Mr. Holyoake commenced 
with me in my chapel, and all over to country openly defied the 
clergy, and lectured on their avoiding discussion, till his corre- 
spondence with me ; I have now silenced that cry ; and they have 
set up another, changing the boast of ' opposition their opportunity 5, 
into silence their safety; and for the policy of forcing debate, they 
have retired into the fastness of ' discretionary silence,' whilst, 
further, every principle and every name held in connexion with the 
Reasoner, as a positive denial of God, or Christianity, or another 
life, up to the time of settling the proposition of this debate, is 
retired from and abandoned ; for Secularists now only profess what 
nobody ever denied, namely, the importance of this life and science, 
which they illogic ally call the 'positive side' of those negations which 
Mr. Holyoake refused to recognize in this discussion. His com- 
mencing repudiation of the Reasoner was intimated in the fact, that 
he wished me to confine my reference to two years ; and then wrote 
by the next post to declare, that he did not mean what he said. 
Now, if he has been safe only two years, may he not find, at the 



93 

end of two more years, that his followers had better imitate those 
who, in the Acts, burned their ' curious books ' at the approach of 
the Gospel ?" 

Mr. Holyoake for this discussion adopted a work, called " The 
Task of To-day" as one of the " advised and revised" standards 
of the new Secular Faith; in this work, the "Task" is to destroy 
and remove Christianity, as now the obstruction to progress. The 
writer of it acknowledges that Christianity was the only bridge 
by which the world could pass over to a better state ; but asserts 
that it now stops the way. The second half of my concluding 
speech — which follows, and with which I conclude this chapter, was 
founded on this "Task of To-day ," — to dismiss Christianity, which 
is acknowledged to have done the world some service. 

The Atheist secular author had said : — " 'When Jesus appeared, 
the world was ripe for change. Beginning to be sick of mythology 
and Judaism, but still clinging to many deep-rooted prejudices, and 
incapable of discovering the whole truth, it wanted supernatural 
authority for every great moral and social innovation." In other 
words, nothing short of Christianity, a religion claiming Divine 
authority, appealing to the natural awe of mankind, was capable of 
improving the world ; or, in Secular dialect, nothing but lies were of 
any service. Then, if the present improved state of the world 
could only be attained by this religion, the present elements of pro- 
gress are due to Christianity, since this ' lie hath abounded ' to the 
world's hope and advancement ; and its continuance and cultivation 
may be as useful as the helpless and pitiful pretender which declares 
that it could not have done any good, in the deranged condition of 
the world when Christ came ; but now that He has set the egg on 
end, if He will but stand aside, these boastful reformers will manage 
the world for the future. And now Christianity is dismissed with 
these grateful words : — ' Whatever share the Christian religion may 
have taken in the work of civilization, was finished long ago — its 
errand is done.' Well, yours is but just begun ; you have done 
nothing. Nor can Christianity have * finished its work long ago,' 
when you admit that the Reformation, the re-assertion of Christian 
liberty, freed the world from spiritual serfdom. ' Protestantism,' 
he observes, was ' certainly an advancement on Papal Christianity, as 
far as liberty, humanity, and honesty are concerned.' Again, he 
writes, ' The Reformation claimed for mankind the right of private 
judgment, and opened the road for every man's escape from the 
shackles of spiritual despotism.' Now, this was the benefit first 
introduced by Christianity, and renewed in the Reformation, whose 
work is surely not yet performed, since there are still many countries 



94 

in which, men are not free ; they are free nowhere, except where the 
Bible is free, and where it has achieved freedom for the Infidel who 
rejects it. And here the ' Secular Standard ' declares the value of 
Christianity to every man, as the source of every man's freedom. 

This 'errand' of freeing men from slavery is ' not done;' and the 
same reason which existed all over the world, requiring Christianity 
at its origin, now exists in all those parts of the world where Christ- 
ianity has not been published or received; and in those parts where it 
has been subverted by priests, for a means of despotism ; so that it 
has work enough yet, and is required as much as ever, in Pagan and 
Popish lands ; whilst Christian lands know it too well to abandon it 
at the request of men who, like priests, misrepresent it. Chris- 
tianity has begun and advanced a good work, which is not yet 
finished ; so it is still required, to move the heathen and to move 
the Komans, who are heathenized Christians, and ' who,' as of old, 
' cannot possibly be saved without a supernatural religion;' there- 
fore that which justified its introduction, justifies its continuance. 
The author of the 'Task of To-Day,' who has thus dismissed 
Christianity, addressing his reader, very solemnly declares — f You 
are no prophet, none of us are prophets ; but let us be well assured 
that no bad consequences will arise from truth, and no good from 
submission to falsehood.' This is when he is giving a reason for 
abandoning Christianity; but at the period of its introduction, good 
came out of its falsehood ; now, however, the great ' task ' he sets 
men, is, to repudiate the only system which has done men any good. 
This consistent Rationalist has written an epitaph for Christianity 
before it is dead, and eulogizes Secularism before it is born. 
'Christianity,' he writes, 'once a green and flourishing tree, is 
now sapless, pithless, and rotten ; nothing but the bark is left ; it 
totters to and fro. Let thinking men quit its shade, lest it crush 
them in its fall.' Did he not rightly say he was no prophet ? Let 
no man be in haste to get out of the road; the tree is in no hurry to 
fall; if ' only the bark is left,' it must be very tough, to keep up- 
right, and to rock to and fro ; there was never such a spectacle seen 
before — it is another of the miraculous lies of fire-eating scepticism. 
Beside Mr. Bell may be informed that if ' only the bark is left,' the 
fall of the tree would break no man's bones ; so that the danger is 
as imaginary from the fall, as the danger of likelihood of a fall. 
When the sky falls we shall catch larks ; but heaven and earth will 
pass away before the tree of life falls ; which the freethinker con- 
fesses did once heal the nations, when his gourd had not sprung up, 
and which will remain to give immortal fruits and cooling shade to 
the hungry and weary traveller through this pilgrimage. 



95 

We cannot but marvel at the eagerness of our cabinet-maker to 
fell this tree ; it is falling, and people are to run out of the way ; 
and yet he follows up this assurance in the imperative mood : — 
' Let all help to make it fall in a safe direction.' This we imagine 
will require ' a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether ;' but 
infidels never pull together, they pull away in different directions, 
and so counterbalance each other's efforts ; when they shake and tug 
they naturally imagine the tree rocks to and fro, as drunken men 
upbraid the earth for reeling. They not only cannot pull together, 
but none of them pull very long at the same rope ; they are always 
for progress, that is, for changing the direction of the pull, and their 
progress is like that of an infant, — from teething to hooping-cough, 
and from hooping-cough to measles, and from measles to consump- 
tion, and from consumption to the grave ; and then as one rope rots 
they bury it, and think the tree is rotting ; as from the death of one 
form of sceptical development they go to the birth of another pro- 
mising child, like Mr. Holyoake at Bradford, who on the 24th of 
August last, gave ' a new development of the principles of free 
enquirers,' and so they take a new voyage, in a new balloon, to see 
which way the wind blows, which rocks our tree into increased 
power, as a giant sapling, already the king of the forest. With all 
their progress they come round to the old place, like a horse in a 
mill, or a squirrel in a cage, or a weathercock on a steeple — always 
progressing and never getting on. They would do well if this tree 
did not stop them ; but now let them start one of their own, with a 
seed out of their Cabinet, and let it compete fairly in the great exhi- 
bition of all magnificent products. 

But these new ' developments,' that is, digging up the old seeds 
to sow new ones, are very satisfactory acknowledgments of dissatis- 
faction with all that they have attempted. Meanwhile, this tree of 
ours is still a ' hale green tree,' after two thousand years, and pro- 
mises to remain so when a thousand more shall have gone. It 
grows in the soil of human affections and intellect, it grows in a 
free atmosphere, it makes the atmosphere free and wholesome, it 
confessedly alone could heal the bitter waters of the old world, when 
Christ planted it ; and the renovated part of mankind having grown 
up with it, and been fostered by it, in the infancy of the world's 
improvement, still guards it jealously, singing — 

' ! woodman spare that tree, 
Touch not a single bough ; 
In youth it shelter'd me, 
And I '11 protect it now.' 



It was planted in suffering, it has been watered with blood and tears, 
it has grown up under the oppression of the combined forces of dark- 
ness, priests, and tyrants, — it has become strong, and now stands 
calmly defying all oppressors, healing all who taste its fruits ; and 
after all the fitful efforts of a variable philosophy, guided to the 
attack with dark lanterns and Will-'o-the-wisp ' developments,' it 
will still remain for the healing and preservation of the nations." 













. 




Chapter X. 




EIYULET 


CONTBOVERSY : 


" WHAT'S IT ALL 



THE 

ABOUT ? "—1855-6. 

The above controversy raged very fiercely in our denomination, 
and its effects are still felt among us. The Bev. T. Binney, who 
was somewhat prominent in the affair, in a letter to the Congrega- 
tional Union on a question into which he sought to merge " the 
controversy," — observed : — " The facts of the case with which you 
will have to deal, will in their circumstances and moral aspects be 
the same six months hence, or six centuries" 

Those who wish to understand the growth of opinion and method 
of advocacy amongst Independents, — who directly and indirectly 
affect other denominations, — will find some useful lessons in a suc- 
cinct review of that animated discussion in which the brave old 
Dr. Campbell stood forward with zeal and fidelity, in defence of 
what he considered to be the truth of the gospel, and was well 
abused for his pains, by those loftier spirits who consider that all 
freedom of opinion should be confined to the self-styled liberal 
thinkers. 

Seeing that by the activity of his foes aud the number of organs 
at their disposal, the veteran defender of the gospel was liable to be 
almost overmatched, and that a combined effort was made to extin- 
guish him ; and believing that a more terse and logical handling of 
the matter might present the whole subject in a short narrative, I 
determined on writing " What's it all about ? or both sides of the 
' Bivulet' controversy, with a fourth appendix to Mr. Binney's 
letter to the Congregational Union." 

Being about this time lecturing at Cheltenham, I read the sub- 
stance of my statement to the Rev. Morton Brown, LL.D., who 
sent word to Dr. Campbell that I had achieved "a miracle of 



97 

logic." The pamphlet was published by Mr. W. H. Collingkidge, 
City Press, 1, Long-lane, and some ten thousand of it were sold in 
a fortnight. 
The facts of the case were as follows : — 

" The Kev. T. T. Lynch, a minister of some individuality and genius, published 
a book entitled — ' The Eivulet : Hymns for the Heart and Voice ; ' which work 
not only professed to be poetry, but was incautiously put forth by its author as a 
Hymn Book, which led to a theological criticism of it, as a specimen of devotional 
psalmody, in the columns of the Morning Advertiser. 

The editor of that paper expressed a decided opinion that the book was theo- 
logically defective for its avowed purpose, and, perhaps, few ministers, however 
much enjoying this poetry in their private moods, would like to give out these 
hymns two lines at a time, to 'peculiar metre? and look the congregation in the 
face while singing — 

' The dewy flowers more beautiful 
For tears upon their open face, 
Gaze on us as from hearts brimful 
Of tender pity for our case.' 
But every one to his taste ; the point now to be observed is that it was a mis- 
take to put forth this poetry as hymns for Christian congregations. As poetry, 
the book might have passed; but being unfortunately described as hymns, and. 
professedly sung in the author's congregation, gave rise to suspicion and comment: 
thus originated this ' Controversy.' " 

The Eclectic Review then criticised the same production, praising 
it especially for " giving utterance, and not unworthily, to those 
aspirations of the Christian's heart, which have the Saviour for their 
object." This number of the " Eclectic " being sent to the Morning 
Advertiser for notice, the reviewer in that paper animadverted on 
the lofty praise bestowed on the Kivulet's high spirituality ; and 
remarked that, " with the solitary exception of the Eev. Newman 
Hall, no one of any note has ventured to vouch for the theology 
of this volume." There must have been some force in these anim- 
adversions, as they provoked the parties referred to, into a peculiar 
method- of replying to a criticism. Their reply became celebrated 
under the title of "the Peotest," a paper addressed to the editor 
of the Eclectic Review, partly to console him for his sufferings in 
the encounter, and chiefly to protect one of the signers of the " Pro- 
test ; " the whole of whom became known as a body by the name of 
"The Fifteen," to which the adjective "immortal" was occasionally 
prefixed. The following is a copy of the remarkable document : — 

"THE PROTEST. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' ECLECTIC REVIEW.' 

Our attention has been called to a matter of controversy between the Eclectic 
Revieio and the Morning Advertiser, on the subject of a book of Christian hymns, 
recently published by the Eev. T. T. Lynch. 



98 

We are slow to intrude into such controversies, but there appears to us reasons 
•which, in this instance, justify a somewhat unusual course. We have read the 
reviews with pain and shame ; and feel called upon to express our utter hatred 
of such modes of dealing with either a book, or a man. The Eeviewer has invoked 
so solemnly the sacred name of evangelical truth to consecrate his criticism, that 
we, loving the gospel, feel bound to enter our Protest; and one or our number, 
Mr. Newman Hall, having been severely blamed for Ms public commendation 
of Mr. Lynch's poems, we, sharing his convictions, gladly place ourselves at 
his SIDE. 

In a book of Hymns for the Heart and Voice, we did not look for didactic 
theological statements, but we found in a measure, that greatly delighted us, a 
spring of fresh and earnest piety, and the utterance of an experience eminently 
Christian, and of no ordinary complexion and range, with a clear recognition 
of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the divine Spirit. We feel no call 
to revieio the Eeviewer of the poems. We content ourselves with simply ex- 
pressing onr conviction that the spirit of the review, and the conclusions and 
judgments of the Eeviewer, and the manner in which Mr. Lynch is personally 
referred to, are most false and unrighteous, and that, if this is suffered to pass 
current as a specimen of Christian reviewing, then Christian reviewing will soon 
become an offence unto all good men. 

Concerning the doctrinal beliefs of Mr. Lynch we are not called upon to offer 
a judgment. It were to place ourselves and him in a false position , to set up 
ourselves as his judges in this matter. Some of us have no personal knowledge 
of Mr. Lynch, and know him only by his works ; most of us know him well, 
having frequent opportunities of meeting him in close Christian intercourse, and 
we simply declare that we love him as a Christian brother, and hold him in high 
honour as one who, by severe and patient thought, hat gained a great know- 
ledge and understanding of that truth which is held in common by all evan- 
gelical churches — ' the truth as it is in Jesus.' Though in our mode of stating 
many things we should probably differ from him and from each other, we know 
that we have ' one Lord and one faith.' We find ample evidence oe this "in 
the book under consideration, and cordially underwrite your recommendation to 
your readers to study it and judge for themselves. 

We do not imagine that the sentiments of the articles to which we allude can 
have any influence over your subscribers, but if you think the frank statement of 
a few Christian brethren can help you in maintaining the standard of true 
Christian reviewing, we, believing that you have been most unjustly assailed, 
place it heartily at your disposal. 



Henry Allon, 
Thomas Binney, 
J. Baldwin Brown 
Jas. Fleming, 



Newman Hall, 
J. C. Harrison, 
Edward Jukes, 
Benjamin Kent, 



Samuel Martin, 
S. Newth, 
John Nunn, 
Watson Smith, 



James Spence, 
E.Alfred Vaughan 
Edward White.' 1 



The peculiar circumstance in this protest, besides its wild and 
general accusations, as a specimen of " true christian reviewing," 
is, that " the fifteen" resent the Morning Advertiser's " mode of 
dealing with a man," — and say, that "the manner in which Mr. 
Lynch is personally referred to is most false and unrighteous," 
when the only thing that had been said of him " personally" was, 
— that he was " an amiable and certainly an intellectual man, of 
cultivated mind, largely imbued with a poetic spirit." 



99 

The protestors had either forgotten what had been said of their 
friend, or thought nobody would enquire, but all would implicitly 
believe that such " utter hatred" as they expressed must be occa- 
sioned by some enormity. It is the custom however of this class 
of men, to draw largely on the faith of their disciples. 

Whatever they cannot answer, they protest against with assumed 
horror, which they hope will be infectious. 

Even the defence of the author of the "Rivulet" seemed 
deprived of all grace and magnanimity, by the anxiety of the pro- 
testors to defend " one of" their "number," Mr. Newman Hall, 
by "gladly placing" themselves " at his side." 

Another reviewer now entered the field, the Rev. Dr. Campbell, 
who thundered in his British Banner, till Mr. Binney acknowledged 
in his first appendix to a letter printed for private circulation, that 
" the author was in error to call his poems hymns" and that it 
" would be an error to use them as such. In the next place," he 
added, "there were errors on the part of ' the fifteen.' It was 
an error to issue a protest at all, things had better have been left 
to take their course. It was an error for the protest to say all it 
did, because some of it would be known only to persons on peculiar 
terms of intimacy with the person defended ; and further there 
were words, if not expressions, incautious to say the least." 

People generally would imagine that after so handsome a recan- 
tation, the penitent would walk softly and that the matter would 
end ; but this was only an appendix to an attempt to injure the 
" moral character of Dr. Campbell," in revenge for his forcing the 
oldest of " the fifteen" into this acknowledgment. Having re- 
pented, or at least recanted, he could with a better grace commit 
another fault. 

It having been announced that Dr. Campbell was about to re- 
publish, with additions, his British Banner articles on " the Rivulet," 
Mr. Binney introduced the matter into the Congregational Union 
meetings, May 17, 1856, protesting against this reproduction, and 
urging the Doctor not to carry out his promise to the public. In a 
fit of generosity the Doctor gave way, but only to find afterwards 
that this act of his was not regarded as a concession of grace, but 
a pledge that nothing of the kind should appear in the Banner 
again. This gave it the appearance of a condemnatory suppression, 
as if the critic and not those whom he criticised had been in the 
wrong, or as if the Doctor had recanted the gospel and taken to 
negative theology ! But though he was thus entrapped into a pro- 
mise which he kept, Mr. W. H. Collingkidge from his own interest 



100 

in the subject determined that the articles should not be suppressed, 
and re-published them on his own account. 

Whereupon the cry was raised that Dr. Campbell had broken 
faith, and those who had been driven by him out of their defence of 
bad theology, sought by every method, open and clandestine, to 
fasten on him the charge of bad morality. It was at this stage that 
I came in and analysed the proofs adduced for this extraordinary 
charge. 

Before the question was so changed — from the theology of " the 
Bivulet" and its suitableness as a hymn-book for Christian worship 
to what Mr. Binney called "the moral character of Dr. Campbell" 
— the real point originally at issue had been given up. But this is 
the perpetual course of our more liberal thinkers ; when foiled as to 
the subject in hand they invariably attack the spirit and character 
of those who put them down in argument. 

As to this charge, that "Dr. Campbell had broken faith" by 
republishing his articles, I wrote the following dialogue, which 
specially excited the anger of the Nonconformist, which took the 
side of gentlemanly taste in this matter. The following dialogue 
w^as supposed to take place between Mr. Binney and the writer : the 
speakers are distinguished by their initials. All the words in 
inverted commas are Mr. Binney's, either as spoken in the Union 
or as written in his letter to the Union, with prefix and appendix to 
the pages of which the numerals refer : — 

B. — Dr. Campbell has broken faith with the Union. 

G.— How ? 

B. — He promised not to publish his " Bivulet" articles with preface and 
additions, as he had engaged to do. 

G.— Well? 

B. — But he has done so. 

G. — Indeed ! Where is the preface, and what is the additional matter ? 

B. — This is mere evasion; "the thing" is done, and if there are no " addi- 
tions," at least Dr. Campbell has republished the articles themselves. 

G.— Who told you ? 

B. — " The thing" " assumes such a shape in my mind." 

G. — Suspicion is shapeless till it is fashioned by design. But how do you 
make out that Dr. Campbell has violated his promise ? 

B. — The pamphlet has appeared. 

G. — Did the Doctor put it forth ? 

B. — " What the meeting deprecated was," not merely Dr. Campbell's " autho- 
rizing," or putting it forth, but its appearance at all, " by ivhomsoever put 
forth." 

G. — Then you think the Doctor guilty for not preventing " whomsoever" doing 
what he promised not to do? 

B, — Certainly ; "it never occurred to the meeting that Dr. Campbell had not 
the power to secure this." (4.) 



101 

G. — " I am not aware that I am doing you injustice when I say that I think 
you are not very clear or connected " (2) : for observe, we are not speaking of 
what " did not occur to the meeting," but of what did occur at the meeting — in 
fact, of Dr. Campbell's promise. What was it? 

B. — That the pamphlet should be suppressed. 

Gr. — Was that what you asked of him when you said it was announced that he 
was going "to publish Ms letters with some new additional matter ?" and " I 
■entreat Dr. Campbell to suppress such intended publication ?" 

B. — We did not merely mean that he should not do this, but that no one 
should do any part of it. 

G-. — I am not inquiring what you meant, but what he promised, and what you 
actually requested. 

B. — " It was the general understanding" that he could and would prevent all 
others. 

G. — But you say you do not know whether this understanding was " right or 
wrong." I want to know whether you argue from "the general understanding," 
or from the particular promise ? 

B.— The promise is to be interpreted by the general understanding. 

G. — Whether right or wrong ? 

B. — This is trifling. " In common, I believe, with most of the assembly, I 
understood that before that day terminated the printer would have received the 
promised prohibition" (3). 

G. — But why did you " believe'' that they " understood" he would write to the 
printer, if you thought it was "the general understanding" that he was bound to 
stop all printers " whomsoever ?" Have you not, then, evidently enlarged your 
" belief" of their " understanding" — that by stretching the Doctor's promise he 
may seem to have broken it? 

B. — I " simply express my conviction," and " confine myself to a severe 
statement of dry facts." 

G. — Do you mean sly guesses and inuendoes ? 

B. — That is an inuendo. 

G. — Yes ; but it is also a " fact," that when you expected the Doctor to write 
to a particular printer you were thinking only of his special engagement with that 
printer, and of his promise to agree with your desire that lie would not reprint 
with additions. It is, therefore, impossible that you could have had then the 
interpretations of "the general understanding," which you now state " severely" 
as " dry facts." 

B. — This amounts to doubting my word. 

Gr. — It is founded on your xoords, and proves that you " are not very clear or 
connected," in inferring understandings that contradict one another. 

B. — I distinctly recollect what I "thought" to be " the general understanding." 
" The case is not only not cleared, but the defence breaks down in every part, 
and the whole thing comes out very much the worse for comment and explana- 
tion." (Preface.) 

G. — That is a forcible style of speaking, but a feeble way of answering. Your 
best plan is to reiterate your statements, not noticing whether they agree with 
•each other, and, above all, speaking with a dignified contempt of "all counter- 
statements and views." There are some who will take it for granted that you 
are right, though they will in time begin to wonder that you do not make it as 
clear in argument as in assertion. 

It would be difficult to find a more palpable instance of changing 
a great controversy into a little personality in no way related to it, 



102 

whilst the scheme, thus foiled and exposed, became as unfortunate 
for its managers as it was unworthy of their position and pro- 
fessions. 

The Nonconformist and the Christian Spectator entered much 
into this controversy, and while secretly sympathising with the 
Neology that was exposed, pretended to be anxious only for the 
spirit in which the truth should be defended. I could give many 
grotesquely atrocious utterances of these advocates of meekness 
towards error, and exhibitors of " utter hatred" towards those who 
honestly exposed it, but content myself here with another dialogue, 
which explains itself and them. The conversation is between a 
thorough Independent a particular Baptist, and the editor of the 
Christian Spectator ; it is to expound the true nature of liberty, and 
shew what party can lay claim to it. The speakers are marked by 
their initials. 

Thoeough Independent. — The point of the Nonconformist is, not the Tight- 
ness of heterodox opinions, but the right of holding them. 

P. B. — And the right of opposing them ? 

T. I.— Of course. 

P. B. — Then what do you complain of? 

T. I. — The spirit in which it is done, of course. 

P.B. — Bather general, and the usual resort of people whose temper fails with 
their argument, and who think it must be a very bad spirit which vexes them. 
Can you give us a specimen which excited your good-spirited rebukes ? 

T.I. — We do not read the " wash ;" he blusters and abuses, and sets himself 
up for the standard of theology. 

P.B. — And you set yourself down for none ? 

T.I. — Not of theology, of course ; that is the Nonconformist's peculiarity ; it 
regulates the spirit of controversy. 

P.B. — Then you are the standard of good temper and of a Christian spirit ?.'- • 

T.I. — That is what we profess mainly to look to. 

P.B. — And display it by accusing others of the want of it ? Cheap, rather. 

T.I. — We only denounce unfairness, and recommend an insinuating gentleness. 

P.B. — Do you mean in the " Bloodhound" article, where the defenders of 
orthodoxy are insinuatingly represented under that amiable title, and the hete- 
rodox described as " runaways ?" Have you a patent for this ferocious 
gentleness ? 

T.I. — That was only a general title to the article, it was not directly applied 
to any-one. 

P.B.— Only gently insinuated ? This is the charity that begins and keeps at 
home, or never goes over the threshold, except to scold everybody into a good 
spirit. 

T.I. — This is banter, and leaving the question. 

P.B. — The question is a good spirit ; you do not enter into theology, and you 
think it worse to display a bad spirit than to have a sorry creed. 

T. I. — Exactly; that is the extent of our assertion. 

P. B. — Then on your own showing, you are more calumnious than the ortho- 
dox whom you denounce. 



103 

T. L— -I cannot see that ; we do not " hound a man down" for a difference in 
doctrinal beliefs. 

-P. B. — Because, you see, you have no doctrinal beliefs, and therefore can- 
not denounce any on that point — except indirectly ; but if you have a weakness 
it is in the matter of temper ; you advocate a kindly spirit. 

T. I. — And is there anything to be said against that 1 } 

P. B — No ; only it would be as well to display it. 

T. I.— So we do. 

P. B. — Yes, to yourselves, and to those who agree with your creed — that 
gentle ways and winning methods are better than theology. 

T. I. — But how are we more calumnious on our principles than those whom 
we accuse ? 

P. B. — Is it not your principle that a good spirit is more than a good creed? 
and that consequently a bad spirit is worse than a bad creed ? 

T. I. — Yes, and is not this true ? 

P. B. — It maybe; but if so you are the greater calumniators; for Dr. 
Campbell and his orthodox friends attack only men's false creed, which you say 
is a slight matter; whereas you attack their "spirit and moral character," which 
you say is of more consequence ; so it is you who are the " Bloodhounds," though 
you know Dr. Campbell is not among the " Runaways." I hope you see now, 
that on your own showing your party is the more calumnious, because it attacks 
what it considers a more vital part in a man's reputation — his spirit or moral 
character. 

T. I. — But you must confess that Dr. Campbell is very bitter against those 
who differ from him. 

P. B. — I believe he is very bitter to them ; not against them. Is it true, that 
when the editor of your paper was condemned in costs and damages for a libel, 
and likely to lose a thousand pounds, Dr. Campbell, who had had many a 
brash with him, went straight to him, and declared he should not lie under this 
loss ? Did the Doctor then show his bitterness further by calling a meeting, 
presiding over it, and raising a large sum to relieve his general opponent ? Have 
you ever seen anything like this on the other side ? Is not " bloodhounds" the 
answer? I would rather lose this right hand than join in a personal fight 
against a man who had proved a generous opponent, when generosity was scarce 
and was needed. [Exit T. I. 

Editor Christian Spectator. — Well, but, friend, this has nothing to do 
with public matters. 

P. B. — But it shows who has the right spirit. And as to public matters, you 
of course are liberal ? 

C. S. — That is our creed ; we started for a liberalizing of religion,! and free 
discussion of matters excluded from the ordinary religious magazines. 

P. B.— Do you remember a series of articles on " Cant Terms," in which you 
ridiculed phrases used by " the holiest members of Christ's body on earth ?" 

C. S.— We did not ridicule them, we only criticised them. 

P. B. — Do you remember refusing to let a Baptist Minister criticise the cant 
terms and Carlyleisms of your articles on humble Christian dialect ? 

C. S.— No. 

+ This Christian Spectator is being revived this year by the liberal publisher, 
who suppressed my pamphlet on Gladstone, and wrote me a threatening letter for 
having as heretofore used his name as my publisher. I mean Mr. Elliott 
Stock, of Paternaster-row. 



104 

P. B. — Well, I saw the correspondence, and then learned practically, that 
your review was liberal to the liberals, but insolent and offensive to those whose 
language, though by you called " cant terms," is as true to them, and more pro- 
found, than all the terms in which you canted against them. [Exit C. . S. 

Mr. Lynch himself lays down a safe principle by which to judge 
of the real spirit of these men ; for in reviewing " the controversy" 
in that organ ludicrously styled The Christian Spectator, he both 
accounts for the origin of that title by contrast with its character, 
and also explains the titles by which men of a like spirit, denomi- 
nate themselves and their party; for he says: — "I know not 
whether the reader has ever observed, as I have, a singular antago- 
nism of pretension and character. The few people whom I have 
known to obtrude love in their discourse have all been either stingy 
or ill-natured. And I have heard of a most unjust man who had 
continually in his mouth the words " Fiat justitia mat ccelum."* — 
(Christian Spectator, November 1856, page 699.) 

The abuse which people heap on you when you have both con- 
vinced and convicted them, is equally well explained by this writer 
in the same article : 

" Demons shriek loudest when they are departing from their 
victims. Let us not think that vaunt and calumny and Phariseeism 
are conquering because they cry. They cry because they are over- 
come."— (p. 708.) 

How this liberal party in theology cried " because it was over- 
come" by the Morning Advertiser articles which forced the fifteen- 
voiced cry of the " protest ;" and Dr. Campbell's Banner articles , 
which hushed it by crushing them ; and " What's it all about ?" 
that swept the smoke off the field and showed the dire condition of 
the vanquished, may be seen by a few specimen illustrations. 

Mr. Lynch took a prose revenge, in a work called " Ethics of 
quotation," which I " quoted to death" and as he signed it " Silent 
Long," I taught him the wisdom of being Silent Longer. He also 
published a poetical revenge, called " Songs Controversial," which 
nobody could sing. 

However this greatly delighted Professor Godwin, of New College, 
who, as we shall see in the next chapter, took lessons in Neology at 
the feet of Silent Long ; it was said he greatly enjoyed the recita- 
tions of Mr. Lynch' s second poetical effusion, which recitations 
were sweetly given at a nocturnal seance held at the Rev. Newman 

* " Do justice, though the heavens should fall." This was histrionically 
repeated by a Rev. Doctor at Cheltenham, as the climax^of an appeal, after the 
most grotesque distortions called " facts'' about the poor Irish Church. 



105 

Hall's residence, where a live Dean lias since been exhibited. This 
exhibition may perhaps come in at the proper chronological stage 
of our history : it excited great delight and chagrin, delight on the 
part of the gentleman who entertained his company with this rara 
avis , and chagrin on the part of one who is generally the Hon 
himself. 

The protesting party was however ashamed of publicly endorsing 
" Songs Controversial," but took great interest in circulating the 
prose revenge, called " Ethics of Quotation." The following 
advertisement appeared at the time, and among other papers, in 
The Freeman : — " The Rivulet Controversy. — At a committee of 
gentlemen held at the Milton Club, on Monday evening, October 27, 
1856, it was moved by Edward Miall, Esq., M.P., seconded by 
the Rev. Basil Cooper, B.A., and unanimously resolved — That 
this committee deem it expedient and right to give the widest cir- 
culation to the 'Ethics of Quotation,' by Silent Long, published 
in reply to the charges brought against the Rev. T. T. Lynch, 
(i.e. Silent Long,) by the editor of the British Banner. Donations 
in aid of this object will be received by the treasurer, &c." 

In addition to this, various attempts were made to expel the 
British Banner from the reading rooms of societies ; and the Non- 
conformist (Nov. 19th, 1856) did not scruple to insert " a good 
example " of this sort, namely, a manifesto of bigotry, " which was 
going the rounds of the Young Men's Christian Association " at 
Plymouth "for signature." " The correspondent" who sent a copy of 
this to the congenial editor observed, " It may possibly give the ' cue ' 
in other localities for similar action, discountenancing unscrupulous 
bigotry [he was exhibiting it] to serve the cause oj 'truth" These 
are the terms in which such men describe their methods of persecu- 
tion for orthodox opinions. I am happy to say that the bigots were 
beaten, and that the Banner continued to wave over the table of 
the society in question. But this is the " cue " of our more liberal- 
minded pharisaical Sadducees. 

The Rev. S. M'All, then of Nottingham, now of Hackney College, 
London, having sided with Dr. Campbell, a meeting of " ten" was 
got up in Nottingham to protest against that gentleman's opinions 
and warn people not to adopt them. This impudent personal attack 
was thus admitted into the Nonconformist, which was trying to draw 
out of the affair : — " Although you announce your intention to insert 
no more letters on the i Rivulet Controversy,' we trust you will give 
us permission to express in your columns our extreme regret that 
one of our ministers, the Rev. S. M'All, has felt it right to place 

E 



108 

himself at the side of Dr. Campbell." This great meeting of ten, 
like the clique of "the Fifteen," says, " It is not for us to discuss 
the theological questions involved in this controversy;" and then 
having confessed their incompetency, which was not necessary, like 
" the Fifteen," they decide that Mr. Lynch was theologically sound, 
which supported their estimate of their capacity. Having said, as 
most bitter persons do when about to say something offensive and 
impertinent, that "the truth should be spoken in love," they go 
on to contradict the truth, and display their love by begging " very 
earnestly and respectfully to guard friends throughout the country 
against the error of supposing" that Dr. Campbell has more than 
one friend in Nottingham. This liberal trash was of course accepted 
by the Nonconformist, especially as " we enclose five pounds in aid 
of the fund for distributing the ' Ethics of Quotation,' and aee Sir, 
yours, William Ceipps, chairman." Mr. Miall not only inserted 
this attack on a minister for a free opinion, but added this note : — 
" The letter to which reference is made in the above communication 
appeared in the British Banner. Mr. M'All quotes various de- 
tached passages from Mr. Lynch's l Ethics ' with a view of showing 
that he is not sound on the question of the atonement. We only 
notice Mr. M'All's letter, to make the above communication intelli- 
gible to our readers ; otherwise we should have deemed it beneath 
our notice. — [Ed. Nonconformist.] " 

Now if this editor did regard the rev. gentleman's letter as " be- 
neath notice," why did he insert a protest against it which, to be 
intelligible, necessitated this " notice ?" The editor refutes, contra- 
dicts, and condemns himself in this hysterical affectation of contempt. 
The same Mr. Ceipps, of Nottingham, referred in his letter to the 
'.' disgraceful special pleading of Mr. Bbewin Geant :" and when I 
wrote asking him " to point out what parts of the pamphlet" he "so 
designated," he replied that he " would gladly comply, but then it 
would involve the necessity of transcribing almost the whole :" but 
when told that he was asked " to point out, not to write out" the 
offending passages, so that he might now " gladly comply" by mark- 
ing the parts on the margin, he said, " you ask me to point out 
* passages :' this is all nonsense. It is not a question of parts and 
passages ; one part is so connected with and dependent on another, 
that to select would not be to make a fair exhibition of the spirit 
and contents of the whole !" 

This is the way with them; when they come to " select" they 
meet a line of bristling bayonets, and because they cannot touch a 
part, they " cry" out about " the spirit of the whole." But this 



107 

gentleman, not satisfied with confessing my logical connectedness 
and impregnable position, had the audacity to write and say: — "I 
am told you got twenty pounds for writing that book :" and when 
I asked him ivho told him that I " got twenty pounds," he was liko 
all these base traducers of honourable men — silent. 

The Nonconformist, whose pages this Mr. Cripps so suitably 
adorned, gave the following notice " To correspondents. An ad- 
mirer of Grant almost tempts us to deviate from the line which our 
judgment [he means " our cowardice"] has laid down, for the treatment 
of that gentleman." In other words his " judgment had laid down 
the line" of silence, as his only safety ; but he was so troubled that 
he was near committing himself by the infelicity and temerity of 
pretending to deal with anything said by " that gentleman." The 
witty element of this correspondent's letter was the suggestion that 
" Dignity and Impudence" should be put as the heading of the 
dialogue between me and Mr. Binney. I advised them to try it. 

About the same time another respectable number, "The Forty," 
met at Norwich, to steal Dr. Campbell's reputation, and to get him 
turned out of his situation as editor of magazines in connection with 
the Congregational Union ; by which papers he had by amazing 
industry and vigour accumulated large funds for widows ! These 
" Forty," who advertised themselves as if comprising two large con- 
gregations, were assembled by private circular. Mr. J. H. Tillett, 
the great Norwich " Liberal," figured in this persecution meeting. 

The perpetual annoyances to which Dr. Campbell was exposed 
from the friends of freedom to persecute any who differed from them 
led him to announce a really free paper, The British Standard, 
saying that " for the exigencies of these times" " he must be 
entirely independent of all proprietary bodies, committees, and con- 
tractors, and rest exclusively on the direct support of his own nu- 
merous friends and the friends of truth, of every section of the 
church throughout Great Britain." Right nobly did he fill his task, 
and right heartily was he seconded, but no thanks to the Norwich 
Forty, and their gentle abettors, the pretentious friends of specula- 
tive freedom ! 

The " amiable" Mr. Lynch, addressing the Congregational Union 
in his introduction to " Ethics of Quotation," wrote in the following 
delirious style : — 

" Your editor is a person whom no Christian society can retain as 
their representative without incurring the reproach of being utterly 
careless about the Christian principles which should govern the use 
of tongue and pen." 
e 2 



108 

As a specimen of those " Christian principles which governed" his 
" pen" he said :- — 

" Murder is murder, even though it is Mr. Lynch that is killed. 
Keputations may be killed as well as lives," and he goes on to sug- 
gest that — "the end maybe that the murderer's own reputation 
may be S shot' with due military dishonour amid public abhorrence." 
] "You have evidence enough before you to warrant you hence- 
forth to disown the editor of the British Banner as your editorial? 
representative." 

This was the sort of thing that Mr. Miall conspired with others; 
to circulate gratuitously, in the interests of freedom, truth, and 
love, — and all that ! 

" It may be," concludes the gentle author of " the Rivulet," 
" you will see that your editor, being the foe of truth, is the foe of 
Christ," so he advised the Union " indignantly and peremptorily" 
to " repudiate" the Doctor. This class of men has now the 

ASCENDANT IN CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISM. 

Dr. Campbell has gone to his reward, and we have no organ of 
opinion that would admit of any criticism of the present heresy andj 
despotism. 

The immediate results of "the controversy" was that the publi- 
cations of one of " the Fifteen" subsided considerably ; and he had 
to make earnest protestations about "the truth as it is in Jesus" 
—which no doubt he and the other protestors regard as a passage 
of Scripture, and so give it as a quotation. The oldest of " the 
Fifteen" was said to have tried three hydropathic establishments* 
and not getting cool, tried change of air in Australia, and returned 
improved in everything but temper : for when asked by one who 
had spoiled his "facts," to officiate in his church on a public 
occasion, this rare opportunity generously offered, for showing mag- 
nanimity, was taken advantage of to display that petulance which' 
is the distinguishing mark of those who ostentatiously write only; 
for " Christian gentlemen." 

However, I got well rewarded for my temerity on this occasion,. 
by subsequent opportunities afforded to the "protestors" of remem- 
bering me ; a circumstance which throws a light on many otherwise, 
dark passages in their career. 

Namq; hoc tempore, 

Obsequium. amicos, Veritas odium, parit. 



. 



109 

Chapteb XI. 
WHAT IS NEGATIVE THEOLOGY, and what does it lead to ? 
or, the Teansition Peeiod from "Baptism in the Rivulet" 
to New College " Christian Faith," 1856. 

The preceding chapter explains the origin and general course of 
the " Rivulet Controversy." This is to exhibit the real theological 
sentiments and tendencies of the party of progress : the religious 
doctrines, if they may be called so, which this class of free enquirers 
entertains and favours. 

The Rev. Newman Hall, to the last of the conflict, stood sponsor 
for Mr. Lynch's substantial orthodoxy. Thus, in a letter to the 
Nonconformist, Dec. 3rd, 1856, he wrote : — " "While I do not pledge 
myself to all his utterances, while the style in which I preach the 
gospel differs greatly from that which he thinks proper to adopt, 
I kepeat my conviction that he is a sincere believer in the funda* 
mental articles of the Christian faith." " The Fifteen " in their 
"protest" said that they have "frequent opportunities of meeting 
him in close Christian intercourse," that they " love him as a 
Christian brother, and hold him in high honour as one who, by 
severe and patient thought, has gained great knowledge of that truth 
which is held in common by all evangelical churches, 'the truth as 
it is in Jesus.' " — (" Protest.") 

Now let us see : — " Speaking after the manner of men, how 
daringly does God manage the world ! How can He — how will He 
solve the doubts and satisfy the yearnings of all the good, and make 
the saved world see of the travail of its sold with full satisfaction ? " 
—(Ethics 19.) 

This " daring " description of the Almighty's management, in which 
it is implied that the Governor of the Universe went to the extreme 
verge of what public opinion would allow, and so made it difficult 
to secure the moral approbation of these reverential critics, prepared 
the way for Mr. Godwin's method of man being " reconciled to God 
by the death of His Son," in the sense of being no longer alienated 
by the " daring management" of Providence, which is now cleared 
up, since "the saved world" sees, in the reward which Jesus re- 
ceived, ground to expect the same reward for "the travail of its 
soul." 

The same passage also prepared for Mr. Godwin's new way of 
salvation " by the service of suffering ; " that is, not of Christ's 
sufferings, but our own, which are to be equally handsomely rewarded. 

In the same " Ethics of Quotation" (29), we read that "We 
e 3 



110 

must know Christ by becoming 'one spirit' with Him." " This 
is not the propositionai knowledge of the head, but the experimental 
knowledge of the total humanity" — (29.) This "experimental know- 
ledge of the total humanity" is beyond any individual capacity to 
experience or to understand; while this depreciation of "the pro- 
positional knowledge of the head" was the provision for Professor 
Godwin's belief in Christ as a person, apart from any " propositions" 
about Him. 

The same writer, still in the character of " Silent Long," says, 
"He [Mr. Lynch,] has often found that 'heresy' is the precursor 
of spiritual insight, and « orthodoxy ' a cloak for transgression, and 
a whited sepulchre, full of dead men's bones." — (" Ethics," 34.) 

These wicked orthodox people are called upon to repent for 
their sin against Mr. Lynch in the following graphic fashion : — 

Some of you Independents have subscribed money to circulate Dr. Campbell's 
pamphlets. It is the price of blood. The Lord will make inquisition for blood. 
The blood of innocency is in your skirts ; it stains your purses, ye men rich in 
cash, but poor in faith and charity. Kepent, and do works meet for repen- 
tance (p. 29). 

This is a solemn burlesque of the words respecting Judas and 
the price of betrayal — * it is the 'price of blood' (Matt, xxvii. 6). 
And the other passages of Scripture (Ps. ix. 12, Jer. ii. 34) are 
either intended to convey the most atrocious accusations, or are the 
most ridiculous abuse of Bible language. The * works meet for 
repentance' are, of course, beginning to subscribe for the gratuitous 
circulation of this gratuitous absurdity, called ' Ethics of Quotation.' 
'Kepentance,' demanded by Mr. Lynch, is to be followed by 
' baptism' in his Rivulet. 

Well were it if the critic who has, in the waters of Marah — the bitter waters- 
of controversy — baptized Mr. Lynch with tbis false name [Destroyer] would 
repent, and suffering himself to be baptized in the Rivulet, hear, and that 
to his good, a sermon from Mr. Lynch (p. 17). 

As a forerunner of the new gospel, Mr. Lynch consistently invited 
men to a baptism of repentance, after telling people pretty plainly 
how much they needed it on account of their orthodox rebellion. 
But the height, or perhaps depth, of this wickedness can be seen 
only in the following solemn warning which ' ' this contemptible and yet 
singular young man," (25) as he affectedly calls himself, addressed 
to one of his presumptuous critics: — "Oh! Doctor Campbell, 
beware lest, in maligning the stranger [Mr. Lynch] whom you despise, 

YOU BLASPHEME THE HOLY SPIRIT OF God" (p. 7). 

It is painful to transcribe such blasphemy ; but it is necessary in 
order to show what kind of doctrines and language the more elite 



Ill 

and pretentiously intellectual of our ministers fostered, and for 
which Mr. Miall, of the Nonconformist, " deemed it expedient" to 
secure a wide gratuitous circulation, out of mere love of good taste 
in controversy, which he affects and violates more than any jour- 
nalist in the kingdom. 

The unhealthy and profane comparisons by which Mr. Lynch 
perpetually likens himself to our Saviour, and likens ceiticism to 
ckucifixion, is seen in his observations on a proposal for arbitration 
between Dr. Campbell and Mr. Binney, which is likened to a com- 
promise by which the cross might have been avoided. As in the 
Christian Spectator, Nov., 1856, Mr. Lynch, in his "Keview of the 
Oontroversy," wrote : — 

m Perhaps the cross, after all, was not necessary. Perhaps truth and lies might 
have settled matters by \ arbitration.' Perhaps the universe is or ought to be 
governed by ' accommodations.' Perhaps the sad story of the ' Master ' is a 
■warning to us not to be ' righteous overmuch.' Perhaps the Lord was not con- 
ciliatory enough to the Pharisees, and might have escaped by a little ' compro- 
mise.' Perhaps there were ' errors on all sides ;' and if Caiaphas after the 
Crucifixion had sent for Peter, given him a ' situation,' and married him to the 
1 maid that kept the door,' there might have been no Christianity !" 

This is comparing small things to great, as a way of making great things 
small ; as a matter of taste it is negatively theological ; as a question of perso- 
nality it is a hit at Mr. Binney, who said there had been " errors on all sides." 

" The maid that kept the door" might possibly have brought an action against 
Peter for bigamy, if Mr. Lynch's ludicrous " perhaps" had been carried out. 
"Whether, if Peter had got a second wife and a good " situation," we should have 
had " no Christianity" is a question we have not to decide; but that with Mr. 
Lynch's method there soon would be no intelligent belief in Christianity is 
evident. 

Again he says : — ■ 

" The Union was content, Pilate-like, to scouege me and let me go (!). 
They did not wish to press matters to extremities. But then, why should I be 
scourged ? Why should I be beaten openly uncondemned by any lawful 
authority ; nay, after having been justified and honoured by such authority ? 
The firmest front should have been shown against Dr. Campbell's whole pro- 
cedure. It was not. And in this — I say it regretfully and respectfully — Mr. 
Binney. I think, was not ' himself " (p. 701). 

It is this constant, profane egotism, this poetical licence of an irreverent taste, 
in putting himself in Christ's place, likening all his negative controversies to the 
scourging and crucifixion of the Kedeemer, which shocks all decency, and plainly 
indicates the tendency of such writers to diminish the greatness of Christ's work 
and sufferings, and to exaggerate their own. They reverse that saying, "He 
must increase, I must decrease," and practically say, " We must increase, He 
must decrease." 

The like absurdity, bordering on blasphemy, is displayed in the following 
sentence, where, praising Mr. Binney, he says : — " He has been strong, and oj 
his 'fulness' many have received'''' (p. 702). This shocking comparison is 
founded on John i. 14 — 17 ; "And we beheld his glory." " full of grace and 
truth ;" " and of his fulness have we all received." 



Hi 

""We must believe in ourselves (says this theologian) because we believe ha 
Emmanuel — God with us" (709). This is the transition stage — a border dialect 
— removing our neighbour's land-marks, so that orthodoxy is gradually led into 
heterodoxy by the sliding scale of varying senses. " Emmanuel — God with us,"' 
a reason for " believing in ourselves ;" "because (!) He is with us" (!) 

This extraordinary " fulness" of Mr. Binney, and " believing in 
ourselves," was the dawn of the new " Christian faith" in Professor 
Godwin. The same Silent Long, quoting his own " Letters to the 
Scattered," says: — " The good moral effect of punishment on the 
man, the effect upon his character as distinguished from his actions, 
is greatly due to his recognition that the vengeance was a right 
thing." " The penalty must be, as thank God it is, administered 
uedemptively." In fact the place of torment, if there be one, is 
simply a reformatory, so far as this theologian teaches. Mr. 
Godwin afterwards founds the " forgiveness of sin" on the distinction 
between " character and actions," as stated by Mr. Lynch. 

We have already seen Mr. Binney described as " strong, and 
of his ' fulness' many have received ;" and this " free handling " of 
the Gospel of God concerning His Son is exercised in another sacred 
direction, as Dr. Campbell was thus warned: — "Beware lest in 
maligning ' the stranger' [that is, criticising Mr. Lynch's new theo- 
logy] you blaspheme the Holy Spieit of God." This also was a 
preparation for Mr. Godwin's theory that the Holy Spirit is a 
good disposition in human souls ! Hence to contend against Neology 
is to despise the inward light of these new prophets. 

I know that many persons will be shocked on reading these things ; 
nor do I wonder : for if these almost blasphemous perversions of 
Scripture are not proofs of a new revelation in our modern thinkers, 
whose deepest speculation is a daring if not dexterous juggling with 
language, at least this exposure will reveal a state of things for 
which outsiders are not at all prepared, and of which many in our 
denomination are ignorant, though I exposed them ten years ago. 
I was not answered then and never shall be ; but I was abused, and 
I hope I always shall be by the same parties. 

The Kev. Newman Hall, in his letter to the Nonconformist, Dec. 
3, 1866, declaring that " Mr. Lynch is sound in the fundamental 
articles of the Christian faith," warned all persons that : — " it is 
not by harsh dogmatical censures, it is not by intolerance of the 
free thoughts and free words of others, still less by abusive epithets 
of wilful misrepresentation, that we recommend the religion of love. 
The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." It would 
be a great mercy if the writer of this, who, in the very act was re- 



113 

fleeting on other people's "free thoughts and free words," were 
inspired with the sentiment which he so wrathfully recommends. I 
have never received any answer from this class of men except 
" abusive epithets and wilful misrepresentation," and " intolerance 
of" my "free thoughts and words:" there is nothing in which 
they so much excel as in " the wrath of man ;" nothing which they 
more unctiously recommend, than — " speaking the truth in love." 

In that same letter, which was a defence of Mr. Lynch' s ortho- 
doxy, and a malevolent diatribe against Dr. Campbell, for criti- 
cising the pretence, Mr. Newman Hall, speaking of one whom 
he represents as " once" a " friend," "long a Christian minister," 
" many years my elder," " who formerly occupied such a position 
of esteem," — oils his razor after this fashion : " I shall endeavour 
to do it in a spirit of meekness, not rendering railing for railing, 
avoiding all harsh expressions ; ' ' then after the most virulent abuse 
which generally follows such loving protestations, he says : — " We 
(the Fifteen) do not simply defend ourselves against the charge of 
a negative religion. We bring that charge against others ; but we 
bring it in love." Of course ! And the charge was, that whereas 
Dr. Campbell doubted the doctrinal soundness of Mr. Lynch, this 
loving critic doubted the moral character of the orthodox advocate. 
This was done unblushingly in that letter which professedly repu- 
diated what it perfectly exemplified. 

^v ; The gentleman whom Mr. Newman Hall defended so meekly 
against the proof of his heresy, himself frankly confessed and denied 
his liability to the charge. Thus, as Silent Long in "Ethics of 
Quotation," he says : — " Mr. Lynch is not the commander of that 
scarecrow army of perversions to which Dr. Campbell gives the 
Jiame of negative theology." " This of course, here and now, is but 
my assertion. But you will remember that some of our most 
esteemed ministees, — Mr. Samuel Martin, Mr. Newman Hall, 
and others, — bore witness (!) to the \ severe and patient thought' 
by which" he "had sought, and as seemed to them, not unsuc- 
cessfully, the knowledge of the truth. Their assertion should be 
evidence. (But it was not.) To you personally (Congregational 
Union) I presume it is. It was no kindly-meant falsehood that 
they uttered, but sober testimony that they offered." (! !) 

Yet in the same pamphlet in which he denies that he is charge- 
able with that " to which Dr. Campbell gives the name of negative 
theology," he said: — "Scripture appears to me to be full of 
what Dr. Campbell calls negative theology," (p. 17.) So 
that if he believed the Scriptures, he was a negative theologian ; and 



114 

if he did not believe them he was an infidel,— which is much the 
same. 

In his " Review of the Rivulet Controversy, Christian Spectator, 
Nov. 1856," — a month before Mr. Newman Hall gave a second 
testimonial (Nonconformist, Dec. 3.) to his orthodoxy, — Mr. Lynch 
wrote : — " I have learnt the wJiole trick of the religious newspapers. 
I could set up one myself if I were only wicked enough." This 
is recorded as a hint for Mr. Miall, of the Nonconformist, and 
Mr. Turberville, of the English Independent, and Mr. Robert 
Leader, of the Sheffield Independent. "The religious world I 
abhor" (p. 683 Christian Spectator.) 

" The ' religious world,' that odious compound, must yield to 
analytic spiritual forces." He was of course speaking of " the 
Dissenting world," of which again he asked, in Ethics of Quotation, 
(27-28) : — "Has he, (Dr. G. like me, Mr. L.)with the gentleman's 
heart and lineage, borne sorrowfully with ' Dissenting' vulgarity, for 
the sake of Nonconformist principle ?" This was too meek, patro- 
nising and genteel. But to proceed with his Christian Spectator 
" Review" : — " I firmly believe that religion, in many self-styled 
Evangelicals, is no better than a blind blaspheming superstition." 
(685). " It is orthodoxy itself that is the great heretic. Yes, and 
in the full sense of the word, orthodoxy is heretical." (704.) 

" Orthodoxy is often a mere city of tombs, and its angry defenders, 
the maniacs, that dwell there, and who cry ' We live among the 
tombs, why cannot you . ? ' and then they rush on us." — (705.) Now 
I do not see why such a man should object to join his fellow 
" maniacs." It may, however, be considered rather serious that 
"some of our most esteemed ministers" take a liking to this sort of 
thing, and object to " exorcism." 

" The propositions of our creed," says this calm theologian, "must 
be as stone steps to advance, not as stone cells for imprisonment ; 
cells in which the liege servants and champions of great liberty lie 
manacled like felons." — (708.) So he would be free. His " pro- 
positions" are stepping-stones to cross over, and " advance" from — 
but, whither ? — Why, out of " the cell " of definite religious opinions, 
to hold to which is to be " manacled like felons." This is the one 
whom the truth had made free from believing in it ! So joyfully did 
he rest in " the truth as it is in Jesus," which " by severe and pa- 
tient thought" he had found to be his sorrowful imprisonment. 
How far he and his " Fifteen" were " champions of great liberty " 
is seen in the great liberties they take with scripture and common 
sense, and the rights of free criticism. " But I will not, oh reader," 



115 

cries he, " offer to you any creed whatever as my ultimatum, or as 
what I recommend for yours." " I have much yet to say, but I 
must not now say more." — (708.) Well, he had not said " much," 
and has left us in the dark as to where he was. 

But Mr. Newman Hall knows all about it. In that fatal letter, 
written a month after those ravings against evangelical orthodoxy, 
this gentleman speaks of " heart utterances of a deep spiritual life," 
with which this " amiable " critic refreshed Mr. Hall and other 
" maniacs," as he went to "dwell with them among the tombs." 
"We still meet for prayer and religious conversation," says Mr. 
Hall, though the leading saint in this paraded exercise, was only 
applying his " analytic forces " to "that odious compound, the 
' religious world,' " in the course of this " religious conversation." 
The writer of that extraordinary letter rebukes our unbelief in his 
testimony as to the gospel according to the " Eivulet," saying : — 
<£ Instead of receiving with thankfulness (!) our testimony to the 
soundness of Mr. Lynch, you charge heresy not only on him but 
on us also." This, though doubtless dreadful obduracy on the part 
of any orthodox freethinker, could scarcely be wondered at when 
Mr. Hall himself not only received such deep inspirations from 
JR the heart utterances" of his friend, but himself fell into the spiri- 
tual cant of his client against " propositional knowledge," as in that 
very letter he says, " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, 
and verbal statements of doctrine, and the shibboleths op even an 
evangelical party, not doubtful disputation and bitter strife about 
modes of utterance, but righteousness and peace and joy in the 
Holy Ghost." — {Nonconformist, Dec. 3, 1856.) By what right this 
•commentator thrust his "verbal statements of doctrine," "modes 
of utterance," "and even the shibboleths of an evangelical party," 
between the two parts of the Apostle's statement (Bom. xiv. 17), I 
never could tell. It is certainly an interpolation and a serious vio- 
lation of the spirit of the text and the context, which is not to 
depreciate doctrinal purity but to remove ceremonial scrupulosity. 
This use of scripture seems to me to be an abuse of it, and a very 
dangerous and reprehensible perversion. 

This medley of "meats" and "doctrine," " drink" and "the 
shibboleths even of an evangelical party," is more profane than 
witty, and is certainly no special mark of respect to that Apostle, 
who would not abandon the plain " verbal statement of doctrines" — 
since there are no other statements than verbal ones : — nor would 
the apostle muffle up the denial of the doctrines under the equivo- 
cating phrase " modes of utterance ;" all which is simply an affected 



116 

latitudinarianism ; nor would lie insult that cross which lie preached, 
by an offensive fling at "the shibboleths of even an evangelical party.' * 
This kind of trimming is an attainment beyond that earnest and 
profound Apostle who lived only to exercise his " modes of utter - 
ence," and to instruct us in " verbal statements of doctrine." 

Mr. Hall might well find it necessary to hide himself behind his 
Missionary Sermon, which had lately been done into a book to show 
that the author could still utter " the shibboleth of an Evangelical 
party." 

His retreat behind that sermon to escape the charge of heresy, — 
which his strange use of, or rather parody on, Scripture, seemed to 
confirm, — shall be given in his own words, out of that letter : — 

If you suspect them [the Protestors] also, you can easily satisfy your doubts 
by examining their works. The last missionary sermon preached at Surrey 
Chapel has been published under the title of " Sacrifice," and, as that subject 
is the one in which, of all others, we are most in danger of a negative theology, 
you can readily ascertain whether you are warranted in the fear that Ichabod 
may be written on the walls of Surrey Chapel. 

But what is the value of this sermon on " Sacrifice," if the writer 
now says that " verbal statements of doctrine" are to be ranked 
with the indifferent matters of " meats and drink," and to be de- 
nounced as " shibboleths ? " This question may be answered by 
Mr. Hall, or his friends, when he again joins in a private meeting to 
sing this sentimental effusion, so far beyond the matter-of-fact 
verbal utterances of St. Paul : — 

" Heart of Christ, cup most golden, 
Brimming with salvation's wine." 

Of this and similar varieties Mr. Hall assures us : — 
I had, nevertheless, in private meetings for worship, much enjoyed singing 

several of its [the Rivulet's] compositions, which breathe a deep-toned spirituality, 

and ought to be taken as interpreters of all the rest. 

Permit me to refer you to No. LXXV. — " Heart of Christ, cup, &c." 

Now, if these specimens of Rivulet poetry " ought to interpret all 
the rest," so, in like manner, Mr. Hall's protestations of orthodoxy, 
even in his " missionary sermon," are to be interpreted by this 
negative comment, — " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink — 
not verbal statements of doctrine, and the shibboleths of even an 
Evangelical party.'' 1 

For, as Mr. Lynch's style takes all meaning out of Scripture, so 
this absurd comment and protestation of Mr. Hall falls into the 
same course, and also takes away all logical value from any of his 
" verbal statements," and " modes of utterance," to which he may 
refer us, in proof of his still holding " Evangelical Shibboleths." 



117 

But perhaps he will require us to adopt his. own method of 
interpretation, as, in the same unfortunate letter, he repeats Mr. 
, Binney's lesson, saying — " I interpreted the book by what I knew 
of the man;" and adding, "I also interpreted the hook by what the 
book itself contained." This last method, if it have any meaning, is 
rather original; but in the same letter we have a third mode of 
interpretation, namely, by taking " several of its compositions" as 
" interpreters of all the rest." We are not told " why all the rest" 
should not be the interpreters of these " several " favourites. This 
see-saw style of criticism is another specimen of the danger we are 
in of losing all logical meaning of language in this contempt for 
" propositional knowledge," and "verbal statements of doctrine." 
So mystified is Mr. Hall that he has already three canons of inter- 
pretation ; first, interpreting books by their authors ; second, by 
what the books themselves contain; and thirdly, interpreting the 
greater part of a book by any favourite passages. 

This author, when in a spirit of Christian meekness, trying to get 
the Congregational Union to turn off Dr. Campbell for the wicked- 
ness of supporting the Evangelical shibboleth, put the matter in 

'Tthis dreadfully effeminate or gushing style : — " I ask the members 
of the Congregational Union whether they feel happy in being repre- 
sented by such a writer?" Perhaps the "religious world" may 
have some qualms on the subject of being represented by that 
enquirer. 

I will at least give this gentleman credit for logical acuteness, and; 
a variety of schemes for drawing an inference, and getting at the 
meaning of a book; especially that device of the chief of "the 
Fifteen," — " to judge of the book by the man," by which Mr. Hall 
said he had the extraordinary felicity of " seeing in it many things 
not obvious to others," — because they were not there. 

This preliminary stage, or transitional period, of negative theology, 

. to be developed into the New College Dispensation, may thus be 
summed up : — 

Christ is God, to fight with us, and for us ; He " bleeds with us, and for us." 
" Thy blood was his, his blood was thine." All specific teaching is decried, and 
the Gekman cloudland advocated, in the profession that our knowledge of 
Christ is " not the propositional knowledge of the head, but the experimental 
knowledge of the total humanity." This is that vague rule, "the spirit of the 

age," which is a sprite, or Will-o'-the-wisp dancing over a bog. Following this 

, unsteady lamp, our Negationalist plays some pranks with religious phraseology 
— " love can atone the selfish ; " " God can bring from the dead perishable inno- 
cence, as a spirit made perfect ;" "the world has a beauty of holiness, and a 
wisdom of holiness." " It is divine in itself; " we, " by yielding to good," which 
means anything in general, " enter a celestial marriage " to Swedenborgianism, 



118 

through the aid of this Eegenerator of Orthodoxy, who " re-inspires the letter of 
our religious speech" with irreligious nonsense. We are invited to a feast of the 
new moon, as "such a deliverance from darkness" as lands us in "full lustre 
and rule of the night." Our teacher, who leads us into the dark, brings hell into 
this world, "cools" his tongue with a few drops "from the Psalms," and so 
prepares us not to be frightened at hell in the next world ; since the Rivulet can 
quench it, aided by Letters to the Scattered. All belonging to Mr. Lynch is 
increased, and Christ is decreased. Is the Saviour crucified, so is Mr. Lynch, 
with "heavy hammer and blunt nails ;" was Christ scourged by Pilate, so is Mr. 
Lynch by the Union. 

The circulation of criticisms is paid for, and is the " price of blood," for which 
God "will make inquisition." 

The only escape is to " repent " and circulate the Ethics, and " be baptized in 
the Rivulet." Let no man despise this " contemptible, yet singular man," for 
this is a " climacteral instance of iniquity :" it is beyond redemption even in the 
Redemptive Hell : — " Beware, oh Dr. Campbell, lest, in maligning the stranger 
(Mr. Lynch) whom you despise, you blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God." " We 
must believe in ourselves, because we believe in Emmanuel — God with us ;" and 
as one specimen, besides Mr. Lynch, who is the Holy Ghost, or quite as binding 
in obligation, Mr. Binney "has been strong, and of his 'fulness' many have 
received." So does Mr. Lynch empty Scripture of meaning to fill men with pre- 
sumption. And, while all this is before the world, Mr. Newman Hall vouches for 
his substantial orthodoxy, boasts of the edification from Mr. Lynch's private heart 
utterances; invents three canons for interpreting books, which will turn Scripture 
into a nose of wax; cries up love, and joy, and peace; and cries down "the 
shibboleths of an Evangelical party," mixing " meats and drink" with " verbal 
statements of doctrine," as matters of indifference; as if, like Peter, in Mr. 
Lynch's supposition, he had "married the maid that kept the door," and so 
given up that Christianity, which as an objective and historical religion, is a 
matter of "verbal statements of doctrine," a revelation of " prepositional know- 
ledge," to guide the hopes, and form the experience of humanity. All this is 
turned into " dissolving views," or grotesque imagery of a distorted imagination, 
by the magic lanthorn of Negative Theology. 

These are the " stone steps" that afterwards sink into the Ser- 
bonian bog of a " Christian Faith" which does not include belief in 
Christianity. Till we get to that stage, we may sing Mr. Lynch's 
liii. Hymn : — 

Where is thy God, my soul ? 

Confined to Sceiptuee's page, 
Or, does His Spirit check and guide 

The spirit of each age ? 

Of course we give up the second line as a narrow authority, and 
fall down before the mixed " spirit" described in the fourth. Nay, 
verily, for " we have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto 
ye do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark 
place." — ii. Peter, i. 19. 



119 

Chaptek XII. 

THE GLASGOW DEBATE AND ITS LESSONS— 1854. 

Mr. Holyoake having retired from Cowper- street with the con- 
fession that he preferred going to gaol to meeting me in discussion, 
was afterwards forced upon the more dreaded alternative, by the 
Kev. Dr. William Anderson, of Glasgow, who in reply to the cus- 
tomary impudent challenge of the secular party, said: — " Send for 
Beewin Grant." Nor could I complain of the preference, inasmuch 
as I had intimated in Cowper-street that if these people should 
pester any body else I was prepared to deal with them again. The 
challenge to Dr. Anderson by John Wright, secretary of the 
Glasgow Eclectic Association, or picked lot, was as follows : — 
Glasgow Eclectic Association, 

14, Gabthland Steeet, July, 29 1853. 
Rev. Sib, 

In my official capacity as Secretary of the above Society, I beg most 
respectfully, in accordance with their instructions, to state that Mr. George Jacob 
Holyoake, Editci: of the " Keasoner ; " has made arrangements to visit Glasgow 
in a few days, for the purpose of delivering a course of lectures on Secularism. 
The Freethinkers of Glasgow, as well as in other places of Scotland and England, 
are, I believe, almost unanimous in considering Mr. Holyoake as their most distin- 
guished leader and efficient advocate. And as you, rev. Sir, have acquired a 
widely-spread celebrity by your eminent controversial abilities in defence of what 
you deem Protestant truth against Popish error and delusion, the members of the 
above society, desirous that truth, and truth alone, by whomsoever taught or 
wheresoever found, should reign and nourish everywhere among men, and that 
falsehood, whatever form or aspect it may assume, may speedily be detected and 
overthrown, deem this a most opportune occasion for a collision of sentiment 
between two such gentlemen of unquestioned ability. 

The Freethinkers of Glasgow are emboldened to address your reverence more 
especially, from the circumstance of your having very recently challenged Dr. 
Cahill to meet you in public controversy; and as it is believed by the Christian 
world that Infidelity, no less than Popery, is a system of delusion, subversive of 
morals, and fatal to the noblest instincts of humanity, a public controversy upon 
the merits of the two systems, between persons of acknowledged ability, would 
inevitably, we think, tend to beneficial results. 

Mr. Holyoake is a man of unblemished moral reputation, and held in high 
esteem by many persons in every sphere of life, even venerated by many who ar'e 
altogether opposed to his doctrines. He has also held more public controversies 
with distinguished divines than any other advocate of Infidelity. 

To this Dr. Anderson replied : — 

Glasgow, August 14, 1853. 

My first impression, on reading your communication, was, that I should 
embrace the opportunity which it offered of exposing to public abhorrence a 
system — if system that may be called, which is a mere mocking negation of all 
that is divine and venerable. 

On reflection, however, I found I must deny myself. 1st, I am greatly exhaus- 
ted in strength by my exertions in another controversy, and for the carrying 



120 

forward of ■which I must reserve such strength as remains. I would fail in duty 
greatly were I to permit the temptation of making a spectacle of Holyoakery to 
eeduce me from my present vocation to make a spectacle of Popery. 2ndly, 
Although I am prepared to enter at once on the discussion of the general ques- 
tion, yet, to meet Mr. Holyoake with the efficiency desirable, it would be necessary 
that I should study minutely his various publications, that I may be ready, by 
prompt quotations, to show his dupes, from the ever-changing state of his opinions 
■a-nd manifold self-contradictions, how disqualified he is for being a guide. This 
<study would require more time and labour, I am persuaded, than I have expended 
in making myself master of the Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent. 
For this I have neither leisure nor inclination. The Council of Trent has . 
occupied my head with quite enough of jargon, immorality, and impiety. But, 
Srdly, I might have got over these objections had there been no other person 
ready to accept of your invitation, and able to do it justice. Gentlemen, send 
foe Beewin Grant, and if he refuse to meet Mr. Holyoake in Glasgow, and I 
be not satisfied with his reasons of refusal, in consequence of what he may con- 
sider unfavourable terms which you propose, then it is not impossible that I 
should overcome all reluctance to submit myself to the labour and excitement of 
•a new controversy, and enter the field. 

This rather staggered the infidels, who, after debating with any- 
one who learns to beat them, always tried to damage his character, 
and to get Christians to repudiate him, while they advanced to the 
conflict with some other person, whom they first praised and finally 
denounced, in order to escape a second encounter with one who 
knew their tactics. 

Dr. Anderson, who had referred the Eclectics to me, as at present 
more in training on that subject, soon found how disagreeable his 
suggestion was, and therefore thus wrote to the Christian News, 
September 8, 1853. 

I deeply regret that there appears to be no hope of Mr. Holyoake meeting 
Mr. Grant face to face before Glasgow loose thinkers ; for admirably as Mr. 
Grant acquitted himself in his first encounter, now that he has had experience of 
Mr. Holyoake's tactics, he would have met him a second time with still greater 
force of exposure. 

The Glasgow Young Men's Association was good enough to take 
up Dr. Anderson's suggestion, and the secretary, Mr. Robert 
Stark, wrote thus to Mr. Holyoake : — 

33, Glassfoed Steeet, Glasgow, 

Octobee 22, 1853. 

The Directors of the Glasgow Young Men's Christian Association have 
directed me to write to you as follows : — 

On your visit to Glasgow recently, the Eclectic Association here, of date 29th 
July, invited the Bev. Dr. Anderson to hold " a public controvery with you upon 
the comparative merits of the two systems." That gentleman replied, desiring 
that Association to " send for Brewin Grant," and stating, that if he would refuse 
to meet Mr. Holyoake in Glasgow, it was not improbable that he should do as 
that Association requested. 



121 

7T0I 

As Mr. Grant lias not been sent for, the Directors have instructed me to invite 
you to a discussion with him in this city, at any early time that may be convenient. 

This was the last thing that Mr. Holyoake expected or desired, 
so in reply, he quoted the Coventry Standard, and made it say — 
that I was an infidel myself : of course the quotation was a perver- 
sion, as the editor of that paper wrote and showed me, but it was a 
clever trick to frighten the orthodox people of Glasgow into repudi- 
ating the representative whom they had chosen and whom the 
infidels naturally objected to. 

The following is Mr. Holyoake's " liberal" evasion: — 

Your communication has somewhat surprised me. My Scottish friends wished 
Secularism to be debated with a Scottish Presbyterian minister; but I do not see 
how this end is to be answered by referring them to an Independent minister of 
Birmingham, of uncertain religious -principles, with whom the subject has 
already been debated — who has said whatever he had to say on the subject, and 
whose speeches, revised by himself, are already in the hands of my friends. From 
the Kev. Dr. Anderson, a very different order of minister, and of national reputa- 
tion, some new criticism or some instruction is to be hoped, but from Mr. Grant, 
for ever wading in a pool of personalities, nothing. 

May I ask in what sense your colleagues put Mr. Grant forward'} Does the 
"Rev. Dr. Anderson, do the Kev. Dr. Buchanan, the Rev. Dr. King, the Rev. N. 
,M'Leod, the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, advertised " Extraordinary Directors " of your 
Association, put forward the Rev. Mr. Grant as their representative? 

You enclose with your letter the " Lecture List " of your Association for 1853-4:. 
I observe that from this list you omit your " Fundamental Rules," the second of 
which is, I believe, that " None shall be eligible as lecturers" to your Association, 
"except such as hold the doctrines of the Divine Inspiration of the Holy 
Scriptures, the Deity and Atonement of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit 
in the conversion and sanctifi cation of the sinner, and the justification of the 
sinner by Faith alone. No remark shall be permitted at any meeting, or in any 
publication of the Association, in opposition to any of these doctrines." Sir, has 
your Association ascertained that Mr. Grant holds the doctrines stated above ? 
The Coventry Standard, a paper which (though not to my taste) you would 
consider sound in the faith, reviewing the debate between Mr. Grant and myself, 
wrote, as I am informed, to this effect : — "This is a discussion between the Rev. 
Breioin Grant and another Infidel, Mr. G. J. Holyoake." Throughout my con- 
troversial intercourse with Mr. Grant, I solicited in vain a copy of his creed. In 
certain propositions I have expressed, for Mr. Grant's instruction, what I take to 
he the leading principles of Secularism. Before I debate with that gentleman 
again, I require, at least, to see him express, in so many propositions, what he 
regards as the leading principles of Christianity. 

You are young men, seeking, I doubt not, as sincerely as my own friends, the 
vindication of public truth in the discussion you propose. Do not therefore dis- 
qualify yourselves by denying the equal intentions of others, or by putting 
forward a minister who will do it in the grossest language. In what way is it 
possible for me to listen deferentially to such a representative? Why should I 
believe in the man who arbitrarily disbelieves in my word? I counsel my friends 
that they are exonerated from attending to either Apostles or Preachers who 



122 

address them as " deceivers" or "hypocrites." If they acquiesce in this language,, 
the public will have a right to conclude the imputation true. I can never be so 
sure of another's veracity as of my own. If, therefore, a minister denies my 
truthfulness upon supposition, what reason can he give me for believing in his ? 
When he has taught me to distrust his word, he can speak to me no longer — he 
can bring me no message from God — he has justified the gravest doubts as to 
whether he believes in Christianity himself. 

I am, dear Sir, 
Eobert Stark, Esq., Yours respectfully, 

Secretary to the Glasgow Geo. Jacob Holyoake. 

Young Men's Christian Association. 

This was written from "the JReasoner office, London," Nov. 5, 
1853. Mr. Holyoake's liberal freethinking libel, accusing his op- 
ponent of heresy and inconsistency as a compliment to his ability, 
did not blind the directors, who were not disposed to let this vaunting 
challenger escape a second opportunity of learning " the art of 
making Christianity disagreeable." Accordingly, after telling him 
that it was Ms side that obtruded the challenge on Dr. Anderson, 
who desired them to transfer it to the Rev. Brewin Grant, as at 
present a more efficient advocate than he, of Christianity against 
secularism, they proceed to remove his delicate scruples as to my 
soundness in the faith, saying : 

" The Directors attach little importance to the words you have been informed! 
were inserted in the Coventry Standard, as, even if correctly quoted, they are 
evidently either a verbal mistake, or easily enough understood when taken in 
connection with the previous context. 

" The Directors cannot see how you and Mr. Grant, having already had several 
nights' discussion, should prove that either has no more to say to the other ; 
indeed, they rather think that, by means of that preliminary discussion, both will 
be better prepared for still further argumentation, and that without a long-con- 
tinued preparatory correspondence. 

"The Directors do not think that either the Eclectic Association or they could 
be held responsible for every word or statement of the disputants, such a selection 
implying only a general confidence, which might afterwards be found to have been 
misplaced. 

" The Directors are surprised at your referring to Mr. Grant as " an Indepen- 
dent minister of uncertain religious principles," when he has distinctly stated to 
you, in a printed letter of 27th July, 1852, " I am concerned to defend the general 
doctrines of ' the orthodox,' more especially of the Independents, with whose 
opinions you are well acquainted." So that, if Mr. Grant's religious principles 
are uncertain, the Eev. Dr. Wardlaw and the Rev. John Angell James must also 
be ' Independent ministers of uncertain religious principles.' " 

To Mr. Holyoake's perpetual and feeble wail about personalities, 
while he is himself at the same time libellously personal and accu- 
satory, the Directors gave this straight cut : — " As to Mr. Grant's 
language in reference to you, the directors think that the easiest way 
of enabling the public to judge of its propriety would be to afford 



123 

you an opportunity of proving its inapplicability. If found inappli- 
cable, Mr. Grant will suffer and not you." This was particularly 
cruel : nor were the Directors more merciful when they added : — 
*' We understand that Mr. Grant is not less sparing in his language 
of Mr. Southwell and Mr. Robert Cooper, and that you, notwith- 
standing, recommend them to meet him in debate, while you say, 
' I can never be so sure of another's veracity as of my own.' " 

To relieve his mind on the score of my orthodoxy, they assured 
him that " Mr. Grant is willing to assent to nearly all the statements 
made in l the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of 
Divines.' " After four or five days' consideration, and seeing no 
clear way out of the fix — in which he no doubt said many times, 
"A plague on all challenges ! " he wrote : — " 147, Meet-street, 11 mo. 
17, 1853. — Dear Sir, — Would you oblige me with the Assembly 
Catechism with Scripture proofs ? I hope in a few days to be able 
to answer your letter of the 10th inst. — Yours faithfully, G. J. Holy- 
oake." He was soon provided with this help to discussion, ac- 
companied with this note : — " Sir, — As desired in yours of the 17th, 
I enclose the Assembly Shorter Catechism with Scripture proofs. 
Waiting your reply to ours of the 10th, — I am, respectfully yours, 
Robert Stark, Secretary." 

It took Mr. Holyoake just Jive months to learn his catechism : 
his friends were greatly disheartened, for they saw their standard- 
bearer faint who had promised to disturb every saint in the kingdom 
with incessant attacks on Mount Zion; and now he is silent. 
No doubt they roused him up ; hence he broke out in April of the 
next year, saying that he had been very busy, but added, " Seeing 
my way clear at length to leaving town at intervals, I inform you 
of my consent to meet Mr. Grant in Glasgow. My opinion of the 
inconsistency of our being requested to meet again remains un- 
changed, but 1 defer to the judgment of Dr. Anderson and the rev. 
directors on whose behalf 'you write." After some further boggling, 
which secured a few more months' delay, up to July 19, he was 
brought into the field Oct. 2nd. The discussion was for six nights, 
on successive Mondays and Thursdays, and took place in the City 
Hall, Glasgow. During this time and for three more weeks my 
family resided at " the Kirn," near Dunoon, at the foot of the Clyde, 
that my wife might compare the scenery with the description of it 
in my love letter, given on page 47. 

The question for discussion was — * Is secularism inconsistent 
with reason and with the moral sense, and condemned by expe- 
rience ? By ' secularism' is meant that phase of modern freethought 



124 

represented by Mr. Holyoake's writings, and in the' ^publications 
edited, recommended, or approved of by him." ,-{Q , 

I spent several weeks beforehand in culling specimens, which I 
strung together, with date, page, and volume, to an extent that 
astonished the infidels as much as Christians. This debate finished 
Mr. Holyoake and his party, so far as reputation for ability, 
honesty, reason, and philosophy was concerned, and he never 
recovered any hold on the general public. 

To revenge himself he added — to his introductory warning res- 
pecting my alleged heterodoxy, which he wished to make into a 
penalty — the declaration that somebody in England doubted my 
conversion ! A thing that infidels do not believe in. 

I got a letter from the gentleman he referred to, and he was 
forced to retract publicly at the close of the discussion. 

To these absurd but malicious accusations, he added that the 
religious press had not reviewed our Cowper-street debate, and in- 
sinuated that in this quarter I was given up. I referred him to two 
handsome recognitions of my success, that appeared in the Eclectic 
Revieiv and the London Quarterly. 

Instead of defending his own productions, which was his foolishly 
accepted " Task of to-day," he declared that my own denomination 
had discarded me, which if true, would have been base and wicked 
on the part of my denomination. 

I was able, however, then, to give this answer as to my standing 
with the Congregational Union, which I recommend to the consi- 
deration of the committee of that grave assembly. The passage 
referred to occurs on page 123 of the printed report of the Glasgow 
discussion, taken by the same reporter as the Cowper-street one,— 
Mr. Keed, — and published with the ''joint consent" of the 
disputants. 7 . 

. When Mr. Holyoake states that in England I am commonly regarded as not 
orthodox, he declares what is false. For I have now an engagement to go over 
to the Congregational Union, which holds nearly the same opinions in reference 
to church rule as the Scotch Presbyterians, and the same doctrines as yourselves. 
I am just now engaged next week, between the fifth and sixth nights of this dis- 
cussion, to give two lectures under the auspices of the Congregational Union. 
At its annual May meeting, a plan which I proposed for influencing this country 
was adopted and recommended to a committee ; and I am invited to go and speak 
upon it at Newcastle. I am quite ashamed to say these things, but I only 
mention them to put you on your guard, and to show how these men who com- 
plain, that if you don't accept the theories of a freethinker, you are bigoted, will 
try to fasten on any Christian advocate the charge of being heterodox. If they 
can't answer his arguments, they will try to injure his professional standing, and 
all under the name of the literty of thought. There is nothing more pitiful than 
that sort of warfare. 



125 

The infidels having been beaten out of the field, professed 
Christians have taken up their poisoned weapons, and in some cases 
have, like the infidels, been most bitter in revenge when completely- 
foiled in argument. There is no calumny which they will not 
secretly circulate, and no cruelty which they will not perpetrate, 
as far as is permitted. I speak now of those, to whose recognition 
of me I referred in reply to Mr. Holyoake's passionate slanders. 

It will be remembered with how great deference the Eclectics 
approached the Rev. Dr. Anderson, and how Mr. Holyoake joined 
them in respect for that gentleman and out of disrespect for me ; 
but even that able and excellent man was insulted coarsely by the 
secular apostle in this very debate. 

This led me to make the following observations : — 

It is not for me to eulogise Dr. Anderson ; I will only state that I have never 
heard any but Mr. Holyoake — who abuses all good men — speak of Dr. Anderson 
■with anything else than the deepest respect and admiration. It is not merely in 
Scotland that he is a minister of national reputation, but in England a gentleman 
wrote to me, saying, "You never had a higher compliment than when Dr. Ander- 
son said, in reply to the chaUenge of Holyoake's party, * Send for Brewin Grant.' " 

And so much personal kindness have I received from this gentleman — (though 
a young man and a stranger) — that I feel as if egotistical and praising myself 
when praising one who is so generous, simple-hearted, and noble a friend. It 
was by the accident of the obtrusive infidel challenge that I was thrown into his 
society ; but I shall always retain the highest respect and affection for him ; and 
if I had not known him, it would be the best recommendation to know that Mr. 
Holyoake insults him, for then he must be a good man in those respects in which 
this moralist condemns him. 

The first part of the following passage describes the course 
which I pursued in this discussion, and the second part contains a 
very important argument, which effectually annihilates the preten- 
sions of those who object to supernatural religion, since all the 
wickedness of all religions, is, on their own principles, the product of 
that very naturalism on which they rely. Or, as I have elsewhere 
expressed a similar sentiment : if the Bible is false its authors 
were infidels, for those who invented it did not believe it. 

In reference to the Glasgow discussion, I said in one of my cus- 
tomary summaries of the points gone through : — 

I have had one object in view, and have kept steadily to it, and have demo- 
lished all pretences to reason or morals in the works of these infidels, and this is 
their condemnation from experience. Mr. Holyoake has questioned whether he 
wrote one of the passages on " Salutary Ridicule," and I have read it to him with 
additions. He has not even denied any other passage, but only explained that he 
was not the author of that about the Tract Society, which contains the gross libel 
on St. Paul ; but I gave him another as bad, from his own pen, about the Tract 
Society as the " depository of sacred calumny," and two about St .Paul, in one of 
which this meek Jesuit calls the apostle "that pious ruffian." So that his 



126 

denial of the authorship of one passage does not escape the sin of the slander and 
wicked falsehood contained in what he did write ; whilst his acceptance of the 
other passage, his selection of it to adorn his organ, makes him guilty of its 
crime, since " the receiver is as bad as the thief." 

The infidel having thus left every quotation untouched, undefended, to lie in 
print before the eyes of many thousand readers, as the demonstration of the vile- 
ness of this party, what has Mr. Holyoake done to retrieve himself and his 
wretched fraternity from odium ? Simply this last resort of an abandoned and 
prostrate cause, to indulge in "recrimination," and try to prove that others are 
as bad as himself ; which, on the 49th page of this debate, he declares he will 
not stoop to ; but he always does what he says he will not. Does that incon- 
sistent, repudiated, and practised recrimination prove his cause good, even if he 
makes out the case against others ? No : it confesses that his cause is bad, and 
he adopts the — " you are another" argument. If this retort were true, it would 
be no answer ; it would not exonerate him, but only condemn both sides. He is 
sinking, and he wants this poor satisfaction — to be drowned in company. He 
shall go down by himself. " We disclaim the wicked fraternity," as he observed 
when he was sinful enough to say he " was not a sinner," which he forgets when 
he asks others, " who have the grace of God," to be better than himself; since 
it is because we " are sinners" that we accept this " grace ;" and, therefore, he 
who claims to be perfect should have pity on " publicans and sinners," and not 
expect us to equal his unmatchable perfection. 

This very doctrine of "grace" shows that he cannot retort our sins on our 
principles, since we teach that we are " frail by nature," which is secular, and 
good only by "grace," which is Christian; and therefore our virtues belong to 
our principles, and our vices, and his own vices, and the vices of all men, are 
instances of the insufficiency of that moral nature which is his adopted 
standard. 

I do not think Mr. Holyoake can understand this. I am sure he will not 
•fairly restate and answer it ; for it shows that all he or others can say against 
any man, Christian or Infidel, is an argument for the insufficiency of morals as 
founded on human nature; whilst all he says against the Bible, enormously 
wicked as his slanders are, would, if true, only make him sink the sooner ; for if 
the Bible is such a wicked book — who made it ? Did not men make it — according 
to his principles ; is it not a human production, and therefore the outgrowth of 
those secular morals founded on human nature ; and is not the same true of 
grosser religions that prevail ? Do not these, therefore, all prove that man is vile, 
if he can make and almost worship vile books ? 

Or will Mr. Holyoake say our book is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ? He 
denies tbis ; therefore he admits it is the immoral production of that nature which 
he says is a sufficient basis for morals. So that if he is right in his assertions, 
he destroys his own cause ; for the Bible, looked at as a human production, is 
like all human wickedness — purely " secular" — the outgrowth of human nature, 
which Mr. Holyoake says has " sufficient guarantees for morality ;" and yet 
which he accuses of producing this enormity, as he libellously describes oar 
Bible to be. 

Nay, more : since this book — so very wicked in the eyes of one who loves 
" morality," — at least who finds it absolutely necessary to repeat this profession 
and to add asseverations of his " sincerity," of which none would dream if he did 
not mention it, and wbich none who are awake can believe, because he mentions 
it too often ; — this book, so bad in the eyes of this man, is still regarded as very 
good in the eyes of other men, who indeed " are sinners," and do not, like Mr. 



127 

Holyoake, deny it. "What, then, must be the enormous immorality of that very 
" human nature,'' which not only invented such a book and found many who per- 
versely died for their testimony to it, but has allowed the very wisest nations, 
and the very best men that human nature can manufacture, the most intelligent 
that humanity can produce, simple and gentle, old and young, rich and poor, 
learned and unlearned, all bowing before this wicked book ? "What a comment 
on the sufficient goodness of humanity, when the foremost nations, the best men, 
thousands upon thousands of people are so morally debased ; and when this book 
is sold more than any other, and is perversely translated into almost every human 
tongue, to pollute even the unsophisticated secular barbarians, and threatening 
even cultivated Confucian China, with the worse than Eussian invasion of two 
million testaments at once ! What an awful wicked world, what a degenerate 
human nature, still getting worse, with only one good man that carries a higher 
humanity in his metaphysical theory — Mr. Holyoake — who stands alone to stem 
this torrent of unutterable natural wickedness, by a noble "aspiration" after a 
Utopian morality founded on a nature so experimentally perverse ! 

Does he not well describe himself as " saving a few from a wreck," by bringing 
his metaphysical humanity from "the wreck" of that real humanity, from which 
he has swum ashore to lecture on its sufficiency for morals ? 

If, then, all he says against the Bible and its followers were as true as it is 
fake, it would be an overwhelming confutation of his pitiful metaphysical suffi- 
ciency of the morals in human nature. 

Bomarsund was blown up with its own powder, and that is a parable for Mr. 
Holyoake and his discomfited adherents. He is taken in his own craftiness, 
and falls headlong into the pit he digged for others ; his attack on the Bible and 
the churches, if true, is fatal to his own cause — the sufficient morality of human 
nature. 

I do not expect him to understand this. I am sure he will forget to state it. 

Mr. Holyoake asked, " where the Bible would lead us to," if we followed it? 
"Why, to heaven of course ; where do you think ? And where will his system 
lead ? Just the contrary road ; for it is as fatal in morals as we have in every 
shape proved it to be fallacious in argument. 

At the risk of occupying too much, space on this discussion, I 
cannot avoid quoting a passage on progress which may be of 
service to many a reader. It follows an enumeration of the various 
whirligigs through which these " reasoners" had led their confused 
disciples \ — 

TRUE AND FALSE PROGRESS. 

He will for a time amuse his followers by calling this, — " progress," like his 
friend Joseph Barker ; but if " progress" means giving up your opinions, you can 
get to the end at once by having no opinion at all. A railway engineer is a 
" man of progress ;" but if you were a shareholder, you would like him to know 
his business before he began to work on your property ; if he made you a line 
pretendedly from Manchester to London, and laid out all the preparation on the 
road for Scotland, and next offered to start in some other direction, he might call 
his past blunder and his new guess, — " progress ;" but he would not, by that fine 
word "progress," induce you to let him spend more of your capital on a rail to 
the moon. 

You are a plain man, and here is a clever engineer, who has invented a new 
sort of bridge — it will cost a good deal, but then he proves (for he is a beautiful 



128 

talker any way), and proves to your confused understanding, that such a bridge 
would be safe and lasting : it is not one of your old tumble-down bridges — of 
course not ; you are persuaded, and the bridge is built, and is not an old tumble- 
down bridge, but a new tumble-down bridge, and you have had to pay for it. 

He himself comes, not to refund your money, not to regret his blunder, but to 
praise his wisdom ; he has himself found out that such a bridge was not likely to 
stand ; when he invented that, he was under the deluding influence of the old 
bridge-making craft ; he is wiser now, and can show demonstratively where that 
failed ; he will show you that no man of common sense could have expected any- 
thing else ; and then will bring out a real new plan as safe as " progress," on 
which you may spend another ten thousand pounds. For he defies you, and all 
the engineers of old orthodoxy to find a flaw in the scheme ; very likely you would 
be puzzled to show where the fault is, and could only say "But the bridge you 
have made failed, and you said the same about that ; we don't want a bridge that 
will stand talking about, but one that will stand the weather and the trains, and 
that will at least bear its own weight ; but your old bridge tumbled down." 
«' Ay, my dear Sir," he replies, " you little understand the march of intellect; 
in this age of locomotion, ' progress' is the word ; we are not tied to old orthodox 
bridges ; we are in advance, and sing the song, ' Try, try, try, again.' " What 
would you say ? The reply would be, "you are very plausible, and in one sense 
right — we must try again ; but we will try another engineer, who will not ' pro- 
gress' in pulling down old bridges to make worse new ones, but who will put Up a 
firm structure, and let us ' progress' while the bridge stands still, as all decent 
bridges ought." 

We must die to find it out, was long a favourite phrase of 
sceptics, and considered a sufficient reason for not seriously regard- 
ing the claims of the gospel. To this I gave the following reply, 
which may not be unserviceable ; such short statements would make 
useful little "tracts: " — 

There is one assertion which Mr., Holyoake is fond of making, which he will 
never make again, if he has any pretension to argument. It is considered of 
some force against Christianity, only because of ignorance and the boldness with 
which it is uttered. 

I mean the saying, that " we must die to find out whether Christianity is 
true." If Mr. Holyoake were to say that he must die to find it out, the assertion 
would be more modest, though not less melancholy. For does he mean that we, 
for ourselves at least, have not found out that it is true ? — that we may not find 
it as firmly proved to our satisfaction, as a thousand other things on which we 
rely and act daily ? This saying is not true, therefore, of us, for we have found 
it out already. 

Secondly — We have lived to "find" Mr. Holyoake " out" and believe him not 
to be true, before we die, and therefore need not attend further to his revelations. 

Thirdly — Many infidels themselves, and indeed the majority, " find it out" 
before " they die ;" and, thank God, it is theirs then, if they truly accept it, as 
many of them do. 

Fourthly — When infidels expect to die, they are often known to send for the 
minister, the elder, or deacon, in preference to their companions or teachers, and 
so prove that " they find it out before they die" — as I hope all infidels reading or 
hearing this, will. Nor do I believe there is any minister of the gospel that would 
.not attend to such a case with the utmost tenderness and alacrity, as they have 



129 

often done ; and I believe many hearers and readers of this discussion will even- 
tually try this plan. , 

Fifthly — If we " must die to find out whether Christianity is true," what do 
you noio say it is false for ? 

Sixthly — If " we must die to find it out," must not you ? 

Seventhly — If we do not know whether we are right before we die, do you 
know any better while you live ; andj if we are both alike on this matter, why do 
you say this against religion, instead of against your own notions ? 

Eighthly — May you not, when you die, " find out " that your views are false? 

Ninthly, — If we are wrong when we die, are we not as well off as you ? 

Tenthly, — If you are wrong when you die, are you as well off as we ? 

Eleventhly, — If, then, " we must die to find it out," which is on the safer 
side? 

Twelfthly, — Had you not better find it out while you live ? 

Thirteenthly, — Shall you not ask the same unwise question again, as if it had 
never been answered ? 

Eourteenthly, — If so, what do you ask questions at all for ? 

Will you take my kesponsibility ? was another favourite ques- 
tion, and perhaps still is, with the same class, and to it also my last 
Glasgow speech afforded an answer, which I commend to the reader. 

There is a further inquiry which I hope will never be put again, namely — 
" why should I believe you, if I am to suffer for myself? Will you take my res- 
ponsibility? " Now, since he will not take our responsibility, he should, on this 
principle, neither offer his opinions to us, nor ask from us so unreasonable a 
condition. 

No infidel will take our responsibility ; then why, on the same ground, should 
we believe them or their opinions ? 

But if you ask me, as a minister — will I take your responsibility ? I say, God 
forbid ! I do indeed trust my all to what I recommend to you, and so give a 
pledge of my sincerity ; but I do not ask you to trust in me ; it is not the gospel 
of my reason, but of God's revelation ;— I ask you to trust in Jesus Christ. And 
if you say — well, will He take my responsibility? I say yes, certainly ; that is 
what He lived for, and died for, and lives again for ; that is why He is a Judge and a 
Saviour. And since that you admit that this "responsibility" is what you feel 
to be so heavy, and that you look for some one to take it off for you ; if you 
really meant that, then "there is now no condemnation to them that are in 
Christ Jesus ; " and therefore, in this alone will you find what you profess to 
seek; — what I cannot give, what no Infidel dare offer, what you cannot find in 
yourself, but what you will find in Christ, namely — One who " takes your res- 
ponsibility," and One to whom you are responsible. " For we must all appear 
before the judgment seat of Christ," and if we now are " brought nigh by His 
blood," we " shall be saved from wrath through Him." 






130 

Chapter XIII. 

CANDIDATING FOR A RE-SETTLEMENT AT THE CLOSE 

OF MY PUBLIC MISSION : Letters of Commendation, 1856. 

Nearly every Hall of Science and infidel shop throughout the 
Mngdom being shut up, and all the popular infidel orators being 
similarly situated or rendered comparatively innoxious, and more 
than the stipulated time, three years, having been occupied in 
labours abundant — travelling and weariness — I began to look for 
£ re- settlement in some private pastorate. 

I had been favoured with the gratitude of thousands, and received 
many valuable testimonies to the usefulness of my labours from 
those who had been interested observers, and, therefore, was in 
many respects favourably placed for securing introductions to vacant 
churches. At the same time I laboured under some serious disad- 
vantages. First, there are those who have not the capacity to 
understand that others may have two capacities — that a person could 
both lecture and preach. Secondly, there are those who, ignorant 
of human nature, imagine that he who can laugh cannot cry, and 
that to be amused and amusing on suitable subjects indicates a 
want of solemnity on others. Thirdly, there are those who make 
amends for acknowledging your ability by hinting a doubt of your 
piety ; or who, from envy, as conscious of inferiority in courage and 
capacity, compensate themselves by any discounts they can take off. 
Fourthly, there are those that feel that they could have done a great 
deal better, and do not see why you should be so highly extolled. 
Fifthly, there are good, honest Christian people, ignorant of the 
materials on which you work and the various styles necessary for 
various occasions, who think that the solemn preaching of the 
gospel to men who laugh at it and make a mock of your solemnity, 
is the only suitable course for all occasions : forgetting that saying, 
" cast not pearls." Now, such persons may, and in some cases do, 
from honest and conscientious ignorance, and in good faith, feel 
that a " free handling "of scorners, is a desecration of the truth. 
Sixthly, there are those who, knowing better, will, from mixed 
motives noted above, play on the honest simplicity of godly persons 
to create a prejudice against you which they know to be foolish in 
others and wicked in themselves. 

My name having been mentioned to some of the officials at Clare - 
mont Chapel, Pentonville, London, preliminary enquiries were made 
of different persons as to their impression of my suitableness in 
character and ability. There was plainly this fear in the minds of 



131 

those who enquired, — that I shonld be fighting with infidelity in the 
pulpit — which, in one sense, I do ; whereas it is to me always a 
relief to turn from such questions, and " lie down in green pastures 
beside the still waters ;" and to avoid all sound of axes and hammers 
in the temple, having shaped and settled all the materials before- 
hand. 

" Whatever brawls disturb the street, 
There should be peace at home," — 

was part of the earliest poetry which I learned, and has described 
my home from childhood till now ; still I cannot wonder at the im- 
pression produced on timid and retiring minds, by the exaggerated 
rumours and grotesque reports busily circulated by baffled infidels 
and sympathizing liberal Christian brethren, respecting a style of 
advocacy of which they are profoundly ignorant and the fame of 
which they envy. I believe that a vague impression of this sort 
affected the form of enquiry which was made up and down respecting 
me by those who entertained the thought of inviting me to preach 
for them " with a view." This I gather from the answers which 
my excellent and worthy friend, then unacquainted with me, re- 
ceived to his enquiries, the answers to which, " as testimonials," 
I now possess, to the writers of which I am indebted, and especially 
to the Rev. David Loxton, who directly met that point of prejudice 
from misunderstanding my aim and spirit, in my freer treatment of 
scoffers who could appreciate no other mode than mine, and were 
not even thankful for that. 

But before introducing Mr. Loxton's letter, I shall give one 
which removed the preliminary scruples as to the advisability of 
asking me to " supply" at " Claremont." 



The Rev. J. M. Chaelton, M.A.,now Professor at Western College, 

Plymouth. 

" Hasbro', June 19. 

" My dear Sir, — I am greatly obliged by your kind letter, and for 
the confidence you repose in me with respect to the affairs of 
Claremont chapel. It would give me great pleasure to hear that 
you were comfortably settled with a pastor. 

" I entirely sympathise in your scruples about Mr. Grant. His 
engagements during the last two or three years have been such as 
are likely to give a somewhat controversial bias to his mind ; still I 
see no reason why he should not form a very excellent settled pastor. 



132 ' 

I am quite sure he possesses energy, tact, and elasticity of mind to 
adapt himself to any circumstances, and I have no doubt that if he 
were your minister, he would throw himself heart and soul into all 
the labours necessary to raise Claremont to its ancient prosperity. 
He is unquestionably a man of great pulpit as well as platform talent, 
and I should expect him to fill your chapel in a short time. At all 
events there could be no harm, I think, in asking him to supply the 
pulpit for two or three weeks. Believe me, dear Sir, 

"Very sincerely and respectfully yours, 

"J. M. CHARLTON. 
"Hugh Owen, Esq." 



m ■ wad ■ . ._ ...... 

The Rev. David Loxton, Sheffield. 

" Sheffield, July 23rd, 1856. 

" Dear Sir, — I understand that my dear friend and brother, Mr. 
Grant, is supplying your pulpit at Pentonville, with a view to a 
settlement ; and as I know that the peculiar character of his late 
mission to the working classes has excited a prejudice against him 
in the minds of some good people, I feel that as an old friend and 
fellow- student, who has had much intercourse with him since we left 
college, I may possibly be able to serve him by telling you what I 
know about him. 

" It would be quite needless for me to say anything about his 
learning and abilities, in which he is second to no minister in our 
denomination of the same age. I know from personal intercourse 
with him that the mode he adopted in his late work was not the re- 
sult of levity, but of a clear and deep conviction of duty to Christ 
and to the souls of men. Should any persons among you view it as 
an error (as I do not myself) they ought to regard it as an error of 
judgment, not of heart. 

"As a student, , Mr. Grant was eminently conscientious and 
spiritually minded, a man of prayer, and I know not of anyone of 
my fellow- students in whose religious sympathies I can more fully 
confide. Hoping you will excuse the liberty I have taken in ad- 
dressing these few lines to you, and earnestly praying that you may 
be directed from on high in the choice of a pastor, 

" I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 

" DAVID LOXTON. 
" Hugh Owen, Esq." 



138 

FEOM MY PREVIOUS CHURCH IN BIRMINGHAM. 

"August, 1856. 

fj We, the undersigned, deacons, members and seat-holders of 
Highbury Chapel, Birmingham,, understanding that our late pastor, 
the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., is now preaching as a candidate at 
Claremont Chapel, Pentonville, London, have great pleasure in 
expressing to the church assembling there our high estimation of that 
gentleman's qualifications as a minister of the gospel. 

" For several years he was greatly esteemed as a teacher and 
pastor, evinced great thoughtfulness and study in the interpretation 
of Scripture, and manifested great earnestness in the application of 
gospel truth. Many were benefited by his public ministrations ; 
while his visits to the sick and dying have been the source of 
gratitude to many. 

" We should gladly have retained him as our pastor but for 
those peculiar circumstances which called him forth to a wider 
sphere of labour, in which we rejoice to know he has been abun* 
dantly blessed of God. And now that his work in that sphere is 
happily accomplished we doubt not he will return to the pastorate 
with an enlarged experience, which, under God, will render his 
labours more efficient than ever, and add largely to that success 
which in our midst he was beginning to enjoy. 

"To speak of his abilities we believe would be superfluous ; but 
of his Christian character, his love of his work, his devotedness, 
his sincerity, his earnestness, his transparency, his warmth, his 
kindness— these we cannot refrain from mentioning, having seen 
them so often displayed and never wanting. 

" We regard him as especially adapted to a large and intelligent 
population, and shall look upon it as an earnest of good things to 
come to see such a minister settled in London, surrounded by an 
energetic Christian people . 

" In this expression of our own feelings we feel confident we 
represent the sentiments of all who have enjoyed Mr. Grant's 
ministry and who have known him in public and in private. 

" In conclusion we would say, if the general estimation in which, 
Mr. Grant was and still is held in Birmingham is any proof of his 
worth, in that estimation we rejoice, for not only amongst our own 
people was he beloved, but by the members and friends of other 
churches and denominations. Should it please Providence to place 
him in your midst, and to dispose you to strengthen and uphold his 



134 

hands, it is our belief and sincere prayer that lasting and abundant 
good will be the result. 

" JABEZ FIDGIN, ) p. 

" WILLIAM BOOKE,} • Ueacons - 

« J. C. STOKES, Treasurer. 

" T. B. WILKINS, Superintendent of Girls' School." 

Other signatures were appended (as many as could be obtained 
in time), and the following letter was sent with the address : — ■ 



"From the Treasurer oe my previous Church. 

" Birmingham, Aug. 15th, 1856. 

" My dear Sir, — I beg to hand you the letter referred to in my 
last, and am sorry the time did not allow of the matter being better 
known to our people, for since your note arrived we have had but 
one service, and at its close last night this letter was signed. This 
will account for so few names being attached thereto ; but certain 
I am that not one of our church or congregation would withhold 
his signature if the opportunity of attaching it was given. Of course 
the circumstances will be understood, as nothing of the matter was 
known prior to last evening. If signatures would help the case, I 
could, if a reasonable time were given, procure one from every 
single individual who knew Mr. Grant ; for, speak to whomsoever 
you may here respecting him, the feeling is the same. I am now 
speaking of those who knew him, for certainly if anything has been 
said of him at any time in the form of disparagement, it has been 
from those who did not know him. I believe that our Mr. Jones has 
written to one of your colleagues, and I know well, if he has, what 
the nature of the communication will be, for he entertains a very high 
opinion of his predecessor. I may just observe, that to my mind it 
is rather too much to canvass so very severely the character of a 
man so well known, and who has lived beloved and respected so 
many years without the shadow of an imputation ; however, 
having had some experience in this sort of thing myself, I can 
sympathize with you, and my best wishes being for your success, 
I can with the more heartiness advise you to take advantage of the 
present opportunity in securing the man — the genius — the Chris- 
tian you have in the person of Brewin Grant. 

" Yours very truly, 

"J. C. STOKES." 



135 

From my Successor, the Rev. J. Rhys Jones. 

"Birmingham, May 15th, 1856. 

"Dear Sir, — I am very much surprised, and not without reason, 
at the receipt of your note of inquiry respecting my predecessor, 
the Rev. Brewin Grant. 

" Had Mr. Grant been an unknown, uncertificated novice, or had 
he been either intellectually or religiously a man of doubtful repu- 
tation, or if no previous enquiries had been made about him in this 
town, or if the impression produced by those enquiries had proved 
unfavourable, then I could clearly see whu additional information 
concerning him should be deemed necessary. 

" As the case stands, however, it appears to me worse than super- 
fluous to seek fresh testimony to the character of one who is so well 
known in this country. 

" I believe it to be neither possible nor desirable that any minister 
should be more highly esteemed and respected than my prede- 
cessor was and still is by his late church and congregation in this 
town. 

" They all, without a single exception, bear the most unqualified 
testimony to his valuable worth as a teacher, a friend, and a 
Christian. And all I have heard from them respecting his fine 
abilities, loveable spirit, unworldly, unselfish, noble, generous 
disposition, and general excellency of character ; I have found 
more than confirmed by an intercourse with him of the most inti- 
mate kind, though not of equal duration with theirs. 

"To my congregation, and especially to a congregation having 
young people in it, his ministrations will prove a most covetable 
possession ; and if he meet with a people by whom his services will 
be appreciated as they were by his late charge at Birmingham, he 
will be, what he desires and deserves to be, — a useful, happy, and 
beloved minister of Jesus Christ. 

" Believe me, dear sir, yours very truly, 

" J. RHYS JONES. 

"H. Owen, Esq., Whitehall, London." 



Eeom the South Staffordshire Congregational Union. 

" Westbromwich, August 7th, 1856. 
" We, the undersigned members of the above union, understanding 
that the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., who has been for some seven 
years a member with us, is about to return to the pastorate from 



136 

his late mission, in which his usefulness is known to all, have great 
pleasure in recommending him to the confidence of the churches. 
Most of us have known him for some time intimately, and can bear 
cordial testimony to his Christian character and ministerial adapta- 
tion. Trusting that he will be guided to a sphere in which his 
superior qualifications will be exercised and blessed, we commend 
him to God and the word of his grace. 

BOBEBT DAVIES, Bilston. 
WILLIAM CBEED, Westbromwich. 
THOMAS ABNOLD, Smethwick. 
W. BOBEBTSON, Wednesbury. 
B. D. WILSON, Wolverhampton. 



The Bev. W. Creed, Secretary op the South Staffordshire 
Association. 

" West Bromwich, South Staffordshire, 

August 8th, 1856. 
"Dear Sir, — I take the liberty of forwarding to you the enclosed 
Testimonial in favour of the Bev. Mr. Grant, who, I understand, 
has been supplying the pulpit of Claremont Chapel. 

" My time permitted me to call upon those of my brethren only 
who reside near West Bromwich, the signatures of some of whom I 
was unable to procure on account of their absence from home. The 
Bev. J. Hammond, of Handsworth, and other brethren would, I 
feel assured, have signed it, if I could have met with them. 

M From personal knowledge of Mr. Grant I can say, the more I 
know of him the more highly do I esteem. 
•' I am, dear Sir, 

v Yours very truly, 

"WILLIAM CBEED, 
" Secretary of the South Staffordshire Association.// 
"Hugh Owen, Esq." 



From other Birmingham Ministers, — the Bev. Bobert 
Alfred Vaughan, B.A. 

17th August, 1856. 

" Sir, — Having understood that there are those at Claremont 
Chapel who are desirous of receiving some testimony in behalf of 
the Bev. Brewin Grant, from his ministerial brethren in Birmingham, 
I have much pleasure in contributing my share therein. 



137 

" Mr. Grant and I were contemporaries in Birmingham for two 
or three years. My intercourse with him was always a gratification 
to me ; and when I came to Birmingham I found that he enjoyed 
(as he did to the close of his stay there) the full confidence and 
regard of his ministerial brethren, as a man of unblemished Chris- 
tian consistency, of eminen!; intellectual vigour and acuteness, and of 
great activity and diligence. As a preacher, I found his reputation 
especially high as an expositor of Scripture, and that his discourses 
were remarkably calculated to attract young men, and to instruct all 
in a discriminating and thoughtful understanding of the word of God. 

" With the best wishes for the prosperity of the Church to which 
you belong, I am, Sir, 

" Truly yours, 

" ROBERT ALFRED VAXJGHAN."* 
"Mr. Owen." 



The Rev. John Angell James. 

" Edgbaston, August 14th. 

" My dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiries about Mr. Grant, I 
can bear testimony to his irreproachable morals during his residence 
in this town ; not a shade of suspicion ever passed over his character. 
Of his talents it is quite unnecessary for me to speak, after the 
publicity and popularity he acquired during his important mission 
as a combatant in the arena of infidelity. I believe he did great 
service in rebuking the audacious atheistic spirit of the age, at 

* This promising young minister, with whom I several times went out to walk 
to improve his health, and who injured himself by over-much study, or rather by 
too little exercise, on which I earnestly warned him, when perhaps it was too late, 
contributed to " The Bible and the People" the " the articles" mentioned on page 
66, " Passages from the life of an Enquirer." His lamented early death is thus 
gracefully, though briefly, referred to in the Pall Mall Budget, Jan. 23, 1867, 
in a notice of his father, the Kev. Bobebt Vaughan, L.L.D. 

" The great grief of Dr. Vaughan's life was the death of a very distinguished 
and excellent son, a grief for which, like the similarly afflicted historian Hallam, 
he sought consolation in compiling a memoir of the departed. Sir James Stephen, 
writing of Alfred Yaughan to his sorrowing parent, said, ' He seemed to me 
formed to add another name to those of the great Nonconformists of the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries, and to throw over whatever he might undertake 
not a little of that more elaborate polish which the scholars of Oxford and Camr 
bridge have been accustomed to regard as their peculiar boast.' " 

I regard it as an honour to have been his friend, and insert his letter with a 
mournful satisfaction. 



138 

least, as it exists amongst a large portion of the labouring classes. 
I think it of some importance that Mr. Grant should be located 
in the metropolis, either as pastor of a church, or as a public 
lecturer. 

" Yours truly, 

"J. A. JAMES." 


The Kev. Charles Vince, Baptist Minister. - 

if Soho Park, Birmingham, Aug. 15, 1856. 
" Dear Sir,— I have been in London the last fortnight supplying 
at Bloomsbury for my friend Mr. Brock. While there I heard that 
Mr. Grant had been supplying recently at Claremont Chapel, on 
probation. 

if Will you allow me to bear testimony to the high esteem for 
ability and character in which Mr. Grant was held by my congrega- 
tion and myself during his ministry at Highbury Chapel, in this 
town. 

" Mr. Grant's chapel is in the same street and immediately oppo- 
site my own, so that I had great facility for forming an opinion." 
"I hope a sphere will be found for him in London in which 
his success may, under God's blessing, be commensurate with his 
mental power and moral worth. I would gladly do much to testify 
my great esteem for him. 

" Yours truly, 

" CHAELES VINCE, 
" Minister, Graham-st. (Baptist) Chapel, Birmingham." 



The Rev. Isaac New, (Baptist.) 

"Birmingham, Aug. 15, 1856. 

" Dear Sir, — When Mr. Grant was settled in Birmingham I was 
often brought in contact with him, as a minister located near me, 
and I think I knew him well, though there was never between us 
what might be called the intimacy of friendship ; yet our intimacy 
was always marked by the greatest cordiality. Honest, upright, 
straight-forward, kind, generous, always struck me as features in 
his character; perfectly free from anything like meanness or 
selfishness, and utterly self-forgetful where he could do a kindness 
or confer a favour. 

" I did not often hear him preach, but when I did, his sermons 
always evinced a very superior mind, distinguished by great acute- 
ness and logical power. His mental independence and fearlessness 
often carried out of the beaten track of thought, and imparted an 



139 

originality to his discourses which not unfrequently awakened sur- 
prise, and it might be, a little suspicion as to the orthodoxy of 
his views, but I believe perfectly groundless. The time that he was 
in Birmingham was one of very great agitation on many questions 
of public interest, and from his controversial skill great numbers 
were at times drawn to hear him. This made him popular with many, 
yet increased the hostility of those who differed from him ; but the 
hostility was only transient; for I apprehend it would be difficult for 
any one to be long hostile against a man so really ingenuous and 
good-natured, however they might feel in reference to his opinions. 
But in the midst of all, his character was, as far as my knowledge 
extends without a stain, and above suspicion and reproach. 

" I do not know that I can add anything more than to say that I 
should feel glad to hear of his being settled over a church which 
would fully appreciate his intellectual and moral worth. 
" I am, dear Sir, yours truly, 

"ISAAC NEW, 

" Baptist Minister, Birmingham.' 



i 

The Rev. Thos. Swan, (Baptist,) the oldest Minister in i 
Birmingham. 

" Birmingham, Aug. 14, 1856. 

" Dear Sir, — I am informed that the Rev. B. Grant has been 
preaching inClaremont Chapel. I hope he may meet with acceptance 
among the friends, and (D. V.) may become the settled minister and 
pastor. 

" He is a man and minister for whom I have always entertained 
the highest esteem— not only on account of his uncommon talent, 
but his piety and ministerial ability — his original and instructive 
preaching. You are, doubtless, aware of his disinterested labours 
against the enemies of the truth in many parts of the country. 
Perhaps London might be the best sphere for Mr. Grant. I hope 
this note may not be deemed intrusive, I felt it my duty, in the circum- 
stances, to write ; and if it be the divine will, should be most happy 
to hear of Mr. Grant's settlement amongst you, as, if I am not 
mistaken, I think you will find him a Pastor after God's own heart, 
who will feed you with " knowledge and understanding." Wishing 
you divine direction in this important matter, 

" I am, yours very truly and respectfully. 

" T. SWAN. 
" Hugh Owen, Esq." 
f2 



140 

The Rev. Alexander Thomson, M.A, 

South Shore, Blackpool, July 24, 1856. 

" Dear Sir, — I have just heard that the Rev. Brewin Grant is 
preaching at present to the congregation in Claremont chapel, in 
which you hold an official position, and I think that by expressing 
to you frankly my opinion of Mr. Grant — of which you may make 
whatever use you please — I shall not be transgressing the limits of 
propriety, which should be regarded in such circumstances. 

" I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Grant intimately when he 
was a student in Glasgow, just before his settlement as a minister 
in Lancashire ; and I have met with him at different times since 
then, and have all along felt an interest in his career. I esteem 
him very highly as one of the most sincere, earnest, and truth-loving 
men ; I know him to be possessed of genuine amiability and good- 
ness of heart, combined with firmness and decision ; and I feel 
convinced that in order to respect and love him, whether as a 
Christian friend or as a minister of the Gospel, it is only necessary 
to know him thoroughly. I do not think it needful to speak of his 
talent and mental characteristics, because those have been so un- 
mistakably displayed, and have received such extensive recognition, 
that it is quite superfluous to bear testimony to them. I know that 
no one who has appeared in Glasgow to address popular audiences 
has ever excited more enthusiastic admiration than Mr. Grant did 
on the occasion of his visit in 1853 and subsequently, and I do 
not know where you will find on the whole more competent judges 
than among the active Christian men of that city. 

"It would give me great pleasure to hear of Mr. Grant's being 
called to occupy such an influential sphere of Christian usefulness 
as Claremont chapel or any similar position. Indeed, after the 
good service he has done, it would be strangely discreditable to us 
if he found any difficulty in obtaining such a position. I feel con- 
vinced that he would fill it with great advantage to the interests of 
the Gospel and men's souls. 

Excuse the freedom with which I have written, though a stranger 
to you, and praying that you may be wisely directed. 

Believe me to be, dear Sir, 

Yours truly, 

ALEXANDER THOMSON, 
Formerly of Glasgow, now minister of Rushholme- 
road Chapel, Manchester. 
H. Owen, Esq. 



141 

The Rev. Thos. Raffles, LL.D., of Liverpool. 

" Kingstown Co., Dublin, July 23, 1856. 

" Dear Sir, — By a letter from my old friend, the Rev. Brewin 
Grant, which has been forwarded to me here, I find that he has 
been preaching at Claremont chapel, with a view to a settlement 
there. Now, my interest in Mr. Grant, who laboured for some time 
at Prescot, near Liverpool, and the concern I cannot but feel for the 
prosperity of the Redeemer's cause at Claremont Chapel, at the 
opening of which I preached, lead me to say — if I may be permitted 
to do so without incurring the charge of obtrusiveness — that I shall 
he glad to hear of such a union having taken place. Mr. Grant has 
rendered good service to the cause of revealed religion by his able 
and successful advocacy, carried on against the infidel party for 
several years ; and now, I believe, he desires a more quiet and 
settled course of usefulness ; and for a suburban congregation in 
the great metropolis, such as yours, I should deem him eminently 
qualified. While in Lancashire, he enjoyed the esteem and con- 
fidence of us all, and since then he has lived too much in the view 
of the churches and the public to need any testimony beyond that 
which his own labours supply. 

'• Pardon this freedom, and believe me, dear Sir, faithfully yours, 

" Hugh Owen, Esq." THOS. RAFFLES. 



The Rev. Enoch Mellor, M.A. 

« Halifax, July 24, 1856. 

" My dear Sir, — Though I am entirely unknown to you personally 
(and perhaps by name), I cannot resist the temptation to write to 
you in the present crisis of your church. I have only just learned 
that Mr. Grant has been supplying for you, and it would afford me 
the highest pleasure if, in the course of Divine Providence, he should 
become your pastor. I have known him for several years — have 
seen much of him, and can speak of his piety, his ability, his 
generous and benevolent spirit in the most unmeasured and un- 
qualified terms. There are special reasons at the present time 
why Mr. Grant should have a metropolitan position. His endow- 
ments eminently befit him for grappling with those Protean forms of 
unbelief which are sapping the foundation of our common faith. It 
has often been to me a source of gratification and gratitude that his 
talents have been so thoroughly consecrated to the service of God ; 
and I can attest from observation that his labours have been pre- 
eminently successful in the North of England. 
f3 



142- 

" I cannot speak of his pastoral qualifications never having seen 
him in relations which called them forth, but feel proud in bearing 
my testimony (such as it is) to his admirable fitness in other respects 



[ 



for the pulpit of Pentonville. 

"Excuse my seemiag officiousness, and believe me to be, 

" Yours very truly, 

<< ENOCH MELLOR.' 



The Rev. R. D. "Wilson, now of Craven Chapel, London. 
" Telford Place, Wolverhampton, 

"August 6th, 1856. 
" Gentlemen, — I have heard with great pleasure that my intimate 
and highly esteemed friend the Rev. B. Grant, is now supplying 
your pulpit with a view to settlement. Having been intimately 
acquainted with Mr. Grant for the last four years, I can most con- 
fidently bear testimony to his ability and worth. 

" I must say that I know of no single man who possesses so many 
qualifications necessary to a high and permanent popularity and 
usefulness. The moral qualities of his nature are by no means 
inferior to his intellectual endowments ; in addition to high moral 
integrity, he is generous, unselfish, and self-sacrificing to a faults 
In a sphere such as yours, affording large scope for his various 
talents, I feel assured that — with God's blessing — he would soon" 
become a most successful and valuable minister of Christ. It is a 
strong conviction that the . Metropolis is the place for Mr. Grant, 
which has induced me thus to address you. 

li Earnestly hoping that he may become your pastor, 
" I remain, Gentlemen, 

" Yours in the gospel, 

M R. D. WILSON." 
" To the Deacons of Claremont Chapel." d bos 

Rev. J. W. Richardson, now at Rotherham. 

" Tottenham Court Chapel, 

"Vestry, July 24th, 1856. 
" Dear Sir,- — I was glad to see, in passing Claremont Chapel the 
other day, that the Rev. Brewin Grant is supplying for you. He is 
an excellent man and seems to me well-fitted for such a sphere as 
that of Pentonville. I shall be glad to learn that he has received a 
unanimous invitation from the members of the Church and 
congregation. 



143 

{( He is a man of considerable power, and with the Divine blessing, 
would, I doubt not, prove an acquisition to the Metropolis. 
" You will excuse the liberty I take in thus addressing you. 
" Praying that you may be directed aright, 
" I am, dear Sir, 

''Yours truly, 
"H. Owen, Esq. J. W. RICHARDSON. 



The Rev. Dr. S. McAll, then of Nottingham, now Professor, 
Hackney College. 

* " Nottingham, July 22, 1856. 

" Dear Sir, — I hope I shall be excused for what may appear an 
intrusion in addressing a few lines to you, as an officer of the church 
at Claremont, at the present moment when the Rev. Brewin Grant 
is before you as a candidate. My sole object is to state to you, and 
through you to others should you think proper, how deep a sense I 
have of the obligations under which the cause, not of our own deno- 
mination, but of our common Christianity, has been laid by his 
public efforts. The great ability as well as the zeal with which he 
has defended the cause of truth has made a decided and sensible 
impression upon the general mind of our countrymen, so far as I 
have had an opportunity of judging ; and I believe I may especially 
speak with confidence as to the young, the enquiring, the thinking 
part of the community. 

"T think our highly gifted and honoured friend is well aware of 
the class of efforts requisite in order to pastoral success. Here 
indeed another line of things than that in which he has so much 
shone, is demanded : but he has all the abilities necessary to adapt 
himself to this particular sphere of duty. I believe he will adorn 
any such position to which he is called by a very consistent example, 
and by a truly kind and affectionate spirit. 

" It has appeared to me that as we all owe a debt to Mr. G. for 
his lectures in the general cause, I should not perhaps be thought 
to step out of my place if I were at such a moment to testify the 
esteem in which Mr. Grant is held by, 

" Dear Sir, yours very respectfully, 

" H. Owen, Esq." " S. McALL. 



The Rev. Watson Smith, now of Wilmslow, near Manchester. 
" 5, Belsize Terrace, Hampstead, 

August 4th, 1856. 
Dear Sir, — Finding that the Rev. B. Grant, B.A., late of Bir- 
mingham, has been supplying Claremont chapel during the last 



144 

three or four sabbaths, I cannot but transmit to you and the 
deacons of the church there, my cordial testimony to his great 
ability, — singular aptness to teach, — and adaptedness to all classes 
of hearers, — high christian character and worth. I knew him well 
when I was settled at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, and can 
speak therefore from a nearer and closer point of view than most. 
It is simply I feel it, a matter of duty to him, and the church of 
Christ to communicate something of what I know respecting his 
extraordinary qualifications for usefulness. There is no man I 
know who is in all respects so well fitted to deal with the present 
times, and the men of the times. Thoroughly grounded in the 
great distinctive doctrines of our common Christianity, — admirably 
fitted for their assertion and defence. I cannot but augur for him 
a course oi large usefulness wherever he is settled. And he is one 
who the better known the more fully will he be estimated ; who, 
beneath the mere surface, bears as noble and generous a Christian 
heart and temper as any brother in the ministry I have met with. 
I trust that you and the brother deacons of Claremont chapel, will 
excuse one personally unknown, for sending this word of testimony, 
and hearty well wishing on behalf of a valued friend and servant of 
Christ. 

Believe me my dear Sir, yours sincerely, 

WATSON SMITH. 
(Then Minister of " New College " Chapel). 



" The Rev. William Anderson, LL.D., Glasgow. 
" Clyde-side Cottage, Uddingston, 

"Near Glasgow, July 23rd, 1856. 
" To Mr. Owen. — The Eev. Brewin Grant has requested a note 
from me to you in his favour as a candidate for the office of pastor 
in Claremont Chapel. I am somewhat surprised there should be 
any need for this : I thought his fame was what it deserves to be — 
kingdom- wide. Of his intellectual gifts, universally acknowledged 
to be so rare, I shall not say a word. Those, however, who know 
only of his public character will be gratified to be assured from one 
who has had experience of him most intimately at home (my own 
home, I mean), in the family circle, in the library when only we 
two were there, in his freest, most confidential hours he ever mani- 
fested that his appearance of zeal in public in defence of the faith 
is the zeal of personal conviction. Some friends may also be 
gratified in being assured that he who is so defiant and scornful of 
the enemy in public is, in private, not only one of the most 



145 

courteous and kind of men, but as little of a self-sufficient or 
opinionative character as any man of talents with whom I ever met. 
His modesty is at times painful. Let me state that, when once 
visiting our house he found my late wife worse than he had been 
taught to expect and showing signs of a dissolution not far distant, 
he, without signifying his apprehensions, guided the conversation 
at tea with such tenderness and insinuations of Christian comfort 
that the remembrance and influence of it remained with her for 
months, till death. When he is withdrawn from the arena of public 
debate and allowed to settle down in the quietude of the pastorate, 
there will be few churches I am persuaded in our land favoured 
with a ministry so excellent. 

"I am, dear Sir, 
" Yours in good faith and in the bonds of Christian love, 
" WILLIAM ANDERSON, LL.D., 
" Minister of the United Presbyterian Church, John-street, Glasgow." 



The Rev. Dr. Halley, now Professor in new College, 
St. John's Wood. 

Manchester, July 30th, 1856. 

" My dear Sir, — I learn from Mr. Grant that he has been preach- 
ing at Claremont. I do not write to interfere at all with the 
judgment of your church, but I do not think it will be wrong to say 
that his settlement in London would be, in my opinion, of great 
service to the cause of religion. Of his preaching I do not intend 
to speak, for I have never heard him, bat of his general ability and 
character I have the highest estimate. 

" As he wishes me to state my opinion, I can do so with con- 
fidence, — my absence from home has prevented me from doing it 
earlier. 

" I remain, yours very truly, 

« Hugh Owen, Esq." " ROBERT HALLEY." 

The Rev. James Parsons, of York. 

" York, August 1, 1856, 
" Dear Sir, — I understand that the Rev. Brewin Grant has been 
supplying the pulpit of Claremont Chapel recently ; and that there 
is a disposition to invite him to become the pastor of the church 
assembling there. Perhaps I may be allowed, without intrusion, to 
render a brief testimony on Mr. Grant's behalf. I believe his 
character to be thoroughly consistent; his abilities speak for them- 
selves, and I should be glad to see them engaged in the regular 



146 

exercise of the Christian ministry. It is of course important that 
the sphere at Claremont should be efficiently occupied. Pardon me 
Sir, thus addressing you, and believe me, 

" Dear Sir, yours sincerely, 

" JAMES PARSONS. 
If Hugh Owen, Esq." 



The Rev. Dr. Morton Brown, Cheltenham. 

« Cheltenham, 23rd July, 1856. 
•' My dear Sir, — I have heard, with great satisfaction, that Mr. 
Grant is now supplying at Claremont. There are so many associa- 
tions connected with our denomination, immediately attached to 
Claremont, that, with multitudes, I cannot but feel a peculiar interest 
in the welfare of the Church of the late Mr. Blackburn. I do hope 
God will direct you in your present circumstances. 

" Mr. Grant is so excellent in himself as a devoted Christian and 
Christian minister, that he requires no word of commendation from 
any one. But from my intimate knowledge of him, my attachment 
to him, my belief in the growth of his Christian character and gospel 
ministrations, arising from his late engagements, I have a deep 
conviction of his suitableness for Claremont. Forgive my saying so, 
I could not but forward to you this utterance. May the Deacons 
and Church be divinely directed. 

" Yours very truly, 

"A. MORTON BROWN." 



The Rev. Dr. George Legge, of Leicester. 
" London Milton Club, 

"24th July, 1856. 
" Dear Sir, — On my arrival here last night, I found a communi- 
cation from Leicester, the sphere of my ministry, from a friend of 
the Rev. Brewin Grant's. I am informed that he has been preaching 
at Claremont Chapel, not without an inclination to settle there if 
approved, and that a word from me to one of the Deacons of Clare- 
mont might be of service to him. If any one has the right and power 
to speak on his behalf, I more. I have known and loved him from 
his boyhood. From a conviction of his piety, I received him into 
the fellowship of the church ; and from an appreciation of his talent 
I was helpful to his introduction to the ministry. I have never 
since had reason to entertain a doubt of his piety, and he has vindi- 
cated his talent before all the world. I may say that I am, in a 
measure, glad that he has given up his 'mission,' which was, I think, 



147 

more profitable to others than to himself, though it must have 
-augmented greatly his natural mastery of language and thought, and 
I shall be most happy to hear of his settlement in a sphere where 
he may make fuller proof of his ministry and of the various gifts 
which God has lavishly conferred on him. It strikes me that Clare- 
mont Chapel is such a sphere, — and I am persuaded that, under his 
auspices, it would attain to a prosperity such as it knew not, even 
in its palmiest times. 

" Mr. Grant is under engagement to take my pulpit during my 
•holiday, on the first Sunday in August ; and I mention this to say, 
that contrary to the proverb, "a prophet hath no honour in his 
own country," — he will be the most popular of all my supplies, with 
crowded congregations. There where he is entirely known, he is 
held in highest esteem. 

"I am, dear Sir, 

-Yours truly, 
j fl9m , " GEORGE LEGGE. 

€[99fc 

- 

Chapter XIV. 

THE MIDNIGHT TELEGRAM. OUR FIRST 

DISAPPOINTMENT ; OUR FIRST GREAT SORROW ; AND 

SETTLEMENT IN SHEFFIELD. 1856-7. 

There were so many encouraging circumstances in connection with 
my candidature at Claremont chapel, that I was induced to almost 
•hope for what I desired. There was also a general feeling of confi- 
dence among the people as far as I could observe and learn, as well 
as on the part of the deacons, who behaved to me with exceeding 
Mndness. 

Hugh Owen, Esq., one of the permanent officials of the Poor 
Law Board, was the corresponding deacon, and while I was in 
London, I was much at his house. On the 7th of August, 1856, he 
wrote to me saying: — -" Many thanks for your very satisfactory 
note. We had bills printed announcing you for the next two Sundays. 
I would therefore suggest that you should give to Daventry the fol- 
lowing Sunday. It is really important with reference to the com- 
pletion of the ' call' that you should be with us for the next two 
Sundays." 



148 

The " trust deed" of the chapel laid down some very compli- 
cated regulations which the deacons endeavoured to follow, as far as 
they understood. One regulation was, I think, that one church 
meeting should be held to call another within a fixed time ; and it 
is naturally supposed that the agreement to call a meeting for 
deciding on the choice of any single minister is so far a proof that 
he is acceptable. Accordingly it was almost regarded as settled, 
as in the following letter : — " I am thankful to inform you that the 
church at Claremont chapel decided last evening on giving your 
dear 'husband a call to the pastorate of the church. I trust that 
the future will show that the good hand of God ruled in this 
matter." 

I was travelling at the time, and Mr. Owen kindly sent this noti- 
fication to Mrs. Grant, while to me he wrote more fully, saying : — 
"We got through the business of last evening in a tolerably satis- 
factory manner. The church resolved to instruct the deacons to take 
the necessary steps to give you a call to the pastorate, and steps 
will be taken accordingly without delay. There was not the unani- 
mity manifested that one would desire ; but there was sufficient 
however to warrant the expectation that the ' call' will in due time 
be completed. I trust that you will be able to supply the pulpit 
next Sunday week. Your continued occupation of it will materially; 
assist a satisfactory completion of the ' call.' " 

I preached as requested, and on leaving for home had formed an 
expectation of being formally invited, as the majority was unmis- 
takably in favour of it. 

But as far as I remember, there was one, an occasional attendant, 
living I think some distance out, but retaining some connection with 
the place, who looked at me askance, and on whom I looked with 
suspicion. I fancy he was a sort of sleeping partner in the deacon- 
ship, and also that he had some connection with law. I imagined 
afterwards, whether rightly or not I do not know, that he played an 
electioneering move, which by a fortunate accident might enable a 
few to over-ride the desires of the many. As for instance, the real 
completion of the " call " was by written votes of the members ; and 
I believe that sufficient of these had already been signed before I 
left ; but according to the then traditional notion of the " deed," it 
was requisite that at the announced meeting, two-thirds of those pre- 
sent should agree to collect and accept the written votes : in fact, 
to decide whether the church should go to the poll or not ; so that 
if, say by any accident or from any misapprehension as to the non- 
necessity of their presence, many should not be there, a handful 
could set the proceedings aside. 



149 

However, I scarcely anticipated such a result ; but requested a 
friend to telegraph that night, Monday, August 18th, the result of 
the meeting, " yes " or "no ! " 

I had not told my wife of this, for I did not want to spoil her 
night's rest, as bad news would be time enough for her in the morn- 
ing, in case the report was unfavourable. I accordingly directed it 
to be sent to a friend in Birmingham, at whose house I expected to 
receive it before very late. However, I had to go to bed without it ; 
and concluded that the meeting had been adjourned. 

I think it was between one and two o'clock in the morning when, 
we were woke up by a ringing and rapping of an energetic sort. I 
knew what it meant, that it was The Telegram, but I did not know 
what was inside it till I opened the door. There was " No ! " in it. 
I went back not giving the news, but put the message in my pocket, 
and tried to go to sleep, without having communicated the news or 
explaining the matter. But as soon as I fell off, another quietly 
rose and rummaged my pockets, and read by the gas the short 
announcement. It was not so pleasant as it was plain. 

The explanation was, that a violent storm of rain came on that 
night in London, and many dare not go out ; while some felt that 
it was not necessary, since they had already signed their voting 
papers, and the matter was as good as settled. But enemies are 
generally more zealous than friends, and would go through fire 
and water, either to thwart you personally, or somebody else, 
whose plans in relation to you they wished to circumvent. I believe 
there were some thirty present out of a church of three hundred, and 
eleven of these would constitute the successful minority. I was told 
that the friends of the " call" proposed an adjournment, but it was 
claimed that even for this, two-thirds were required as a majority. 
The meeting was kept up very late, but the few held out : and it was 
considered that they had by a legal technicality set aside all that 
the church had done ; so that if next day, nearly the whole church 
should have voted by papers, most of which were ready and many 
given in, the accidental advantage of the ten or eleven would frustrate 
the general wish. 

It was found out afterwards that the deed, absurd as it was, did 
not mean this : but as one wrote to me ; — " it is true we were done 
by the deed, but then the deed is done," and it was considered 
that to question it, or even to begin the formalities de novo, would 
produce confusion. 

I was greatly consoled on this occasion by the very sympathetic 
and generous letter of the corresponding deacon, who with his 
colleagues was almost equally disappointed. 



150 

The following is the letter, which is both a testimonial and an 
expression of kindness, which I have always highly prized : — 

" Whitehall, 19th Aug., 1S56. 

" My dear Sir, — It is with regret that reaches to the very core of 
my heart that I inform you of the result of the church meeting at 
Claremont chapel last evening, which was that you were not elected 
to the pastorate. 

" The array of cordial and discriminating testimonials from 
ministers of influence, together with a most emphatic testimonial 
from your late charge at Birmingham — the character of your 
preaching, which was striking, interesting, and instructive beyond 
anything that we have been accustomed to — the largeness of the 
congregation which you attracted, coupled with the kindliness of 
your nature, and friendly, frank and unaffected manner, — these, I 
say, led me not only to desire earnestly that you might be elected 
but also to cherish the hope that you would be elected. Other 
views, however, triumphed ; and the privilege of having you for a 
pastor is reserved for some happier fellowship, while our faith and 
patience must endure a still further trial. Let me, dear Sir, 
bespeak your sympathy and prayers. 

" Trusting that the light of heaven may shine on your future, 
and that you may be a blessing to thousands, 
" I remain, 
" With Christian affection, 

" Most truly yours, 

" HUGH OWEX. 

" The Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A." 



After this disappointment came our first great sorrow, which 
at times even yet flings its shadow over our minds, though it has 
been softened by time, and the opportunity of cherishing those con- 
siderations which the first flood of grief does not permit us to dwell 
upon. 

There was one who accompanied me to London, and whose voice 
always sounds in my ear as I pass through some of those short 
tunnels near Town — an imitation of the whistle of the engine, by a 
mocking merry little companion, who somewhat startled a passenger, 
and turned delighted to me, saying — " were you frightened ?" She 
was then about five years old, — a woman and a child. I remember 
our visit to Daventry on our return home to Birmingham, when I 
preached the anniversary sermons for Mr. Davies, who had carried on 



151 

life-long and honourable ministry in that town. There was a tea- 
meeting on the Tuesday, to which we stayed, and the little one was 
the cynosure of all eyes, as at home she was the peerless unenvied 
pet and queen. The following morning Mr. J. C. Stokes, Jun., one 
of my flock, drove us from Daventry to Birmingham. It was a glorious 
day ; and I remember a long aVenue of trees on the road, worthy of 
the noblest park, while the greensward along-side tempted us to rest 
there, unharness the horse, and sit down to bivouac. 

I see the fairy dancing on the green, — a picture that will not fade. 
Many a time when I have returned from my journeys, she with the 
rest was standing on the platform to run and give me a welcome ; 
and all the way riding home, would sing to extempore music and 
poetry, the refrain of which was, — " Clap hands, for Pa has come 
home." 

And she has gone home now, though we would gladly have detained 
her. I remember the farewell look, as she rested panting on my 
arm, while another equally concerned was saying — "I will try and 
dress her." " You will never dress her again," said I. "I shall," 
was the answer, but the departing one looked round to find her also ; 
and after one last look of sweet farewell, passed to heaven. The 
loneliness of that sad hour, when with all our loved ones we seemed 
to have no one left, can be understood only by those who have 
experienced the same. An accident, falling from the arm of a sofa, 
and injuring the spine in the fall on to the pointed ridge of a fender, 
laid the foundation of weakness, through which we nursed her 
tenderly ; but not more tenderly than she is now cherished in our 
future home. 

Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, 

The reaper came that day : 
'Twas an angel visited the green earth, 
And took the flowers away. 



. 



The Sensitive Plant was the earliest 

Up-gathered into the bosom of rest ; 
A sweet child weary of its delight, 
The feeblest and and yet the favourite, 
Cradled within the embrace of night. 



No ! " There is no night there" : — 

"Where the bright Seraphim, in burning row, 
Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow, 
And the Cherubic host, in thousand choirs, 
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires. 



152 

"for i say unto you, that in Heaven their angels do always 
behold the face of my father which is in heaven." 



" It is His Angel," said the fearful and unbelieving disciples* 
when the damsel Bhoda knew his voice, and could not open the 
door to Peter for sudden joy and desire to tell thein ; as, having 
heard his voice, her heart leaped. " And when she knew Peter's 
voice she opened not the door for gladness, but ran in and told 
them how Peter stood before the gate." At first they were sceptical, 
for they had not believed in the efficacy of their own prayers for 
his deliverance, and many people would be astonished if God 
answered them. "It is his angel" it is Peter come back again, 
but not in bodily substance so as to be able to say, " handle me, — 
4 a spirit' hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." These are 
the " angels," — the departed spirits of children appearing, not again 
to us, but before the face of His Father, Whose " house" has 
"many mansions," over which the Son presides, and from which 
He says : — " Suffer little children to come unto Me." 

A neat Parian marble bust, artistically executed, with a modest 
wreath of flowers and leaves, by M. Beattie, of Birmingham, stands 
on a bracket in my study as I write this — the hardest chapter of 
my life — which has, and will, cost some tears. Nor is this forbidden, 
since " jesus wept" Who will hereafter wipe all tears from off 
all faces. 

It was during the first sharpness of this bereavement, in January, 
1857, that I fulfilled an engagement io preach in Leecropt 
Chapel, Sheffield : a "cause" sunk very low, and not having in 
itself the elements of revival without foreign aid. I remember my 
first service there — too soon after the event referred to — and how I 
had to leave the pulpit before the sermon, from uncontrollable 
grief; and with what difficulty it was that I faced the congregation, 
after a few verses of a hymn had been sung. 

It is enough here to say that I was received with very great 
kindness and sympathy by the few friends there and by others, and 
was invited to settle amongst them. I liked Sheffield as a busy, 
active town. There was in it my old friend the Bev. David 
Loxton ; the people were very hearty ; and I was desirous of rest. 
There was one difficulty in the way, namely, as to raising " means," 
and friends outside contributed for a time towards an acknowledg- 



153 

ment of the minister's services. Amongst those who, at a meeting 
in connection with this settlement, volunteered aid, I remember 
Mi. Robert Leader, of the Sheffield Independent, volunteered to 
ghe five pounds for two years to secure the settlement of "an able 
man in Sheffield." 

It is with satisfaction that I record the kindness received at this 
time, and especially that of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Wortley, of 
Philadelphia House, Sheffield, who entertained our whole family for 
a little time till the house was prepared in which we were to 
sojourn for a while, We have the happiness of retaining their 
friendship after eleven years' acquaintance, though not long con- 
nected with the same " cause." 

One evening, during our stay with our hospitable entertainers, 
Mrs. Wortley was taking two of our children through the Lord's 
Prayer, and when they came to that petition, " Give us this day 
our daily bread," one of them looked up and put in this parenthesis 
— with a most natural emphasis — " and pikelets." They had had 
some for tea. 





Chapter XY. 

" THE RESCUE OF FAITH." " NEW COLLEGE" 

THEOLOGY. THE GODWIN CONTROVERSY. 1862. 

The most important public step in my life, and one involving 
many sacrifices and losses in defence of the gospel, was the exposi- 
tion and exposure of the subtlest and most dangerous form of error, 
which takes the soul out of Christianity and leaves to it only an 
empty name. 

The history of this controversy is the more useful and necessary 
on account of the fact that the errors described are still 
endorsed, and even specially approved of, by the quiet restoration 
of the professor who had been deposed from the chair of Greek 
New Testament Criticism on account of them ; or at least in order 
to prevent the continued diminution of the college income, occa- 
sioned by the circulation of "the Rescue of Faith" among the 
subscribers. 

New College, St. John's Wood, London, is an amalgamation of 
three previously existing Congregational colleges — Highbury, 
Homerton, and Coward. This amalgamation took place in 1850. 



154 

The Kev. J. H. Godwin, formerly one of the professors at High- 
bury college, was translated to this new institution, and in the 
Congregational Year Book, 1860, (p. 213) his " professorship" is 
described as " Philos. and Greek Exeg." ; that is, philosophy and 
the exegesis, or criticism, and exposition of the Greek New Testa- 
ment, — the most important chair in a theological college, and mCst 
affecting the doctrinal opinions of the students for the ministry. 

Whatever suspicions may attach to oral teaching it is difficult to 
come to a certain decision ; but published statements lie fixed and 
passive for dissection, and this opportunity for examining his real 
sentiments was afforded by Professor Godwin, in his systematic and 
formal dissertation given as the " Congregational Lecture" in 1858, 
and after some delay published under the title of " Christian 
Faith:' 

This "Congregational Lecture" maybe compared denominationally 
with the Bampton and other lectures in connexion with our national 
universities. It is regulated by an institution called "the Congrega- 
tional Library." 

The following description is taken from the Congregational Year 

Book, 1860, pp. 286-7. 

THE CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY, BLOMFIELD STREET, 
EINSBURY. 

This valuable institution was established in 1830. The lease of the premises 
was purchased in 1831 by an association of ministers and gentlemen, at the cost 
of £2,100, with a view to secure a convenient locality for the various literary, 
religious, and benevolent objects of the Congregational body. 

The handsome library, which is mainly occupied with books, the munificent 
gift of Joshua Wilson, Esq., is lofty, and adorned with several fine portraits. In 
this room the meetings of the Congregational Board and of the General Body are 
held. The institution is in the hands of trustees, and its ordinary business is. 
transacted by a committee. 

THE CONGREGATIONAL LECTURE 
Was established by the constituents of the library, with a view to promote eccle- 
siastical, theological, and biblical literature, in that religious connexion to 
which they belong. It consists of an occasional course of lectures, that partake 
rather of the character of academical prelections than of popular addresses. The 
lecturers are selected from such Congregational ministers of Great Britain as are 
distinguished on account of their literary and ministerial reputation. Seventeen 
series have been already delivered, the publication of which has greatly increased 
the literary reputation of the Denomination. They were delivered and have since 
appeared in the following order ; — 

"1833. Christian Ethics; or Moral Philosophy on the Principles of Divine 
Revelation. By the late Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D.D." 

Here follows the successive series, down to : — 

" 1855. Ages of Christendom "before the Reformation. By the Rev. John 
Stoughton." 



155 

" .The Eev. John H. Godwin, Professor of Philosophy and of Greek Exegesis, 
delivered a course of Lectures on Christian Faith in 1858. The volume is not 
yet published." 

It should be observed that at this stage Professor Godwin's book 
is scarcely ranked with the others : that while " delivered" in 1858, 
it is not published at the beginning of 1860. My own impression 
is that the managers of " the Library" had been alarmed at the 
doctrines propounded, and were unwilling to have this " series" 
attached to their former issues. At the end of Mr. Godwin's pre- 
face to \i Christian Faith" he says : — " Circumstances prevented 
the appearance of this series of lectures at the proper time, and 
their [its] publication was therefore postponed till after the issue of 
the series which followed." Whether in the meantime " the con- 
stituents of the Library" had been converted to the Professor's 
opinions, I cannot say ; but I find that whereas " Christian Faith" 
is not quite recognised in the list quoted from the Year Book of 
1860 it thus appears in that of 1865 : — 

" 1855. Ages of Christendom, &c. 

" 1858. Christian Faith, by the Rev. John H. Godwin. 

•' 1860. The Divine Covenants, their Nature and Design, by the 
Rev. John Kelly." 

It was no doubt providential that the Professor's " Christian 
Faith" was not permitted to appear till " The Divine Covenants" 
had strengthened us to bear it. The " publication" of the former 
" was therefore postponed" till after the series which followed." 

But while in 1865 " Christian Faith" is put down with the 
" Covenants," it is significant to read in the Year Book of 1867 
[page 394] the following epitaph : — 

THE CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY AND THE CONGREGATIONAL 
LECTURE 

Are discontinued for the present. It is intended, when the Memorial Hall is 
completed, that both shall be removed thither. Information respecting either 
may be had on application to Rev. Thomas James, Secretary, 18, South-street, 
Finsbury, E.C. 

The volume whose origin and early fortunes are thus described was 
reviewed by me in a series of articles in the British Standard, under 
the editorship of the late Rev. J. Campbell, D.D., at whose decease 
that paper came to an end, and there remains now no Congrega- 
tional organ in which departures from the truth amongst us can be 
fairly criticised. We may write at Colenso and the Ritualists, but 
worse errors amongst Congregationalists are screened from investi- 
gation — if indeed there are many who have the courage to attack 



156 

" spiritual wickedness in high places," — for it is not given to every- 
one to peril his prospects for the sake of his principles. 

It was in 1862 that the criticisms on Professor Godwin's " Chris- 
tian Faith" appeared in the columns of the British Standard: and 
during a temporary visit with my family to Hastings in October of 
that year I revised the articles for republication, under the title of 
" The Eescue of Faith, or a Vindication of the Cross of Christ, 
being an Analysis and Refutation of the Rationalism of the Age, as 
embodied in the Congregational Lecture on Christian Faith, by the 
Rev. J. H. Godwin, Professor in New College, St. John's Wood.,' 
London, Revised and corrected from the British Standard, July to 
September, 1862, by the Rev. Bkewin Gkant, B.A." This is now 
out of print. 

That the public may be acquainted with the doctrines then and 
still taught in the chief Congregational and Independent College, the 
following extracts from the " Rescue of Faith" are selected for 
perusal ; the words in inverted commas are quotations from Pro- 
fessor Godwin's " Christian Faith," and the figures refer to the page 
whence the passages were copied ; phrases in brackets [ ] are to ex- 
plain the connection in which the sentences are used, or to adduce 
equivalent expressions, by which the language is to be interpreted. 

The following circumstances as described at the commencement 
of " The Rescue of Faith " explain my connection with this con- 
troversy, and were mentioned at the time for the sake of those who 
would wilfully attribute another origin to these criticisms, as their 
revenge for their conscious incapacity to answer them. 

The writer happened to receive an intimation from a friend in 
London, that if he should be in town to see the Exhibition, he 
could preach on a given Sabbath in a chapel the minister of which 
was then absent from illness. Accepting this as a favourable oppor- 
tunity, the writer did accordingly visit the metropolis, and one 
evening on his return to his host's, called on Dr. Campbell, who 
accidently referred in conversation to Professor Godwin's lectures, 
asking the writer if he had seen them, which he had not, and 
whether he would look them over and write a notice for the British 
Standard. 

At that time the reviewer had no suspicion that there were any 
grave errors in the Congregational lecture on Christian faith. Hie 
felt little interest in the subject, and did not suppose it to be of any 
pressing moment. 

Accordingly, the serious reading of the book was postponed by 
other engagements, until Dr. Campbell wrote, recalling attention 



157 

to the matter, and saying that if the writer were too much occupied 
he must himself take it in hand. On that day the review of the 
preface was written and sent off; but even then the full character 
of the book had not deeply impressed the reviewer : though by a 
certain instinct the language of the preface was interpreted as 
suspicious ; and that one article seemed to the writer sufficient as a 
warning. But the editorial addition, — " So much by way of prelude ; 
we shall enter into the heart of the subject in our next," — woke up 
the reviewer to the toilsomeness and comparative magnitude of his 
task. The character of the volume unfolded lecture by lecture ; 
the reviewer was both amazed and pained at every discovery of 
some new error — rampant or couchant, and the work of comparison 
— reading backwards and forwards to hunt one phrase to place 
along-side some other — became an absorbing pursuit. 

Me. Godwin's style of language, like that of the school to which 
he belongs, is so evasive, enabling him to say what he denies, only 
in a different sense, that it is necessary to quote largely in order 
not only to show what he says but to prove what he means ; and 
this proof is afforded by some equivalent expressions, in which the 
writer slides gradually down the scale of meaning from the appear- 
ance of the strictest orthodoxy to the reality of the lowest heterodoxy. 



ic Xature of Faith. According to 2Ir. Godwin's Theory it is not 
an intelligent Belief in the definite Truths of Religion, but a 
blind Trust that has no Relation to the Atonement. 

The preface to these lectures directs us to "consider" them as 
" referring to this common principle " — " the same faith in Cheist " 
which exists among all sects and parties — "Episcopalians, Quakers, 
Calvinists, Arminians, Catholics, and Protestants " — who all have 
" one hope " and " one faith," notwithstanding "many differences 
of belief respecting Christian doctrine." 

" The inquiry is, then, evidently of no little importance, whether 
Christian faith be belief or trust" (p. 12). Yet he says that " to 
believe in a person is to timst to him" (p. 17) ; and, therefore, there 
can be no difference between belief and trust on a moral question. 
This fatal admission is in the midst of some eighteen pages, 13-28, 
all printed to show that Christian faith means fi more than any kind 
of belief!" (p. 13). 

That Christian faith does not imply belief in the supposed funda- 
mental doctrines of the gospel is thus intimated :— 



158 

(P. 15.) " The truths of which the simple belief is by some sup- 
posed to be Christian faith were not known by those who first had 
this faith." He means that the personal disciples of Jesus had 
" Christian faith" without a belief in what are "supposed by some" 
to constitute Christian doctrines. 

" The truths the belief of which is thought to be sufficient for salvation refer 
to His death, and to its character as a sacrifice for the sins of men. But it 
appears from the narrative of the New Testament that His death was not ex- 
pected by His disciples, not even by the apostles. They had faith in Him, and 
through this faith became His followers. They were acknowledged to be His 
friends and kindred, were assured of forgiveness and acceptance, and vet they 
did not believe that it was needful that Chbist should suffer. They trusted to 
Him ; but not till after His death and resurrection did they learn those truths 
the belief of which has been thought to constitute Christian faith. We have 
no reason to suppose that the faith required of the disciples q/* Chbist at the 
beginning diffebed in its nature from what was afterwards enjoined. The 
Ignorance which was compatible with faith at one time may be incompatible with 
it at another time. But it seems to be impossible that this faith should be the 
belief of truths which were for some time unknown to all by whom it [this 
Christian faith] was possessed." 

This passage is the key to the position : it explains why so much 
is made of trust, and so little of belief. What does it matter about 
" believing the doctrines which are supposed by some to constitute 
Christian faith," when the true faith was possessed by some who 
knew nothing of the doctrines, and so may be possessed by those 
who reject those doctrines, since this faith is the same now as at 
the beginning ! 

IL 

The Object of Faith ; or, ivhat ive are to believe in ; not the Sacrifice, 
nor any Work or Promise of Jesus, but in Christ Himself, and 
not any Propositions about Him ! 

" We proceed to the inquiry respecting the object of Christian 
faith. What is this ? Is it a proposition or a system of propo- 
sitions ? Is it a fact, or a series of facts ? Or is it some Person ? 
What or whom are we required to trust ?" (p. 39.) 

The absurdity of attempting to " distinguish" between believing 
in a "person" and believing in "propositions" respecting him is 
acknowledged in the next sentence, page 39: — " If we believe a 
person we shall also (!) believe some propositions respecting him, 
and the facts [which] they [the said propositions] declare, and we 
shall believe the truth of what ice know to be stated by him. But we 
may believe a person, and not believe many truths asserted by him or 
by others concerning him, being ignorant of those truths." 



159 

The scheme is to show that we may trust in Cheist as the Person 
Who was born at Bethlehem and died on Calvary, while " ignorant 
of the important truths and facts" that His birth was a Divine 
incarnation and His death the divinely- appointed sacrifice for sins. 
No doubt we may, and this will be so far a belief in His " person," 
but no belief in His mission, and have no relation to Christian 
faith nor to salvation. 

" Trusting to a person commonly includes more than trusting to 
any propositions or facts" Now, a " person" is nothing else but a 
" fact," and our affections towards that person result from the 
" propositions" which we accept concerning him. We are told 
that "Trusting to Christ is different from trusting to the truth 
of any doctrine, or the sufficiency of any work. Many of the 
disciples [who do duty a great many times over] trusted to Him 
fully, when His doctrine was but partially understood, and His 
work was still unfinished, and to a great extent unknown." (41.) 

This dreary lecture concludes in the same manner : — 

" If Jesus Christ be the object of Christian faith, those representations mus* 
be erroneous which assign this place to any particular facts or propositions 
Not the birth of Christ, nor His death, nor His resurrection, can be the 
object of this faith." 

"The sufficiency of His sacrifice for the pardon of sin cannot be alone 
the object of this faith." 

" According to the sacred (!) Scriptures, no fact or series of facts, no proposi- 
tion or system of propositions, but Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of Cod, is 
the object of faith, in Whom [not in His works and revealed character in the 
doctrines of the Gospel, but in sometbing ' different '] men -will find all that is 
to be believed, desired, and chosen, that they may receive through Hin eternal 
life." 

He further tells us that : — 

" In more than thirty passages of the Gospel of St. John we find with reference 
to Christ the expressions trusting to Me, or trusting to Him, or trusting to 
the Son. The same language is employed by the other evangelists, and by 
the apostles Peter and Paul. The few passages which mention faith in 
connection with the gospel, or with the death and resurrection of Christ, 
should be understood in accordance with the many passages which speak of the 
faith that saves as having for its object the person of Christ." (4'2.) 

An examination of the gospels shows that neither John nor the 
other evangelists present the person of Christ as the object of 
faith apart from His work, — the benefits which He bestows, and the 
sufferings which He was to endure : and that these are either 
expressly mentioned or implied in every instance. 

Mr. Godwin goes further than this boldness of making the 
instances " few " which refer to the work of Christ, and, " many " 



160 

which refer to His person; he even declares that those "few 
passages," which in reality are most numerous, are " erroneous!" for 
he tells us (p. 78) that — "if Jesus Christ be the object of Chris- 
tian faith, THOSE REPRESENTATIONS MUST BE ERRONEOUS which assign 

this place to any particular facts or propositions." And that we 
may know distinctly what facts or propositions he denies to be the 
object of our faith, the following are enumerated : — 

" Not the birth of Christ, not His death, nor His resurrec- 
tion, can be the object of this faith". " The sufficiency of His 
sacrifice for the pardon of sin cannot be alone [he dares not say, 
though he means, ' cannot be at all '] the object of this faith." 

" According to the sacred Scriptures, no fact or series of facts , 
no proposition or system of propositions, but Jesus Chhist Him- 
self the Son of God, is the object of faith " (p. 73). In page 41, 
Mr. Godwin says : — 

" It is not said that ive are saved by trusting to the doctrine 
which Christ taught, or by trusting to what He has done or 
will do, but by trusting to Himself." " Trusting to Christ is 
different to trusting to the truth of any doctrine or the sufficiency 
of any work." 

III. 

The Forgiveness of Sin no Forgiveness at all, but the Recognition of 
the former Sinner's new Character : — for a Person that repents 
"cannot truly be judged to be wrong, according to the Wrong of 
past Actions.'''' 

Mr. Godwin accepts Mr. Lynch's distinction between "conduct," 
or "action," and "character." "Conduct" may be bad; "actions" 
may be sinful ; and, while the agent chose to act so, he was a 
sinner, but is so no longer when he repents ! ( p. 116.) 

"What men choose shows to themselves and others what they are. It shows 
what they are when [his own italics] they thus choose; but it does not certainly 
show what they are at another time.''' That is, when they repent. "If there be 
no change of mind, the testimony given by the former conduct remains, and (in 
that case) men are still what their past actions indicate. But if their minds are 
really changed [by repentance], former conduct ceases to be evidence oi present 
character. The action which is past is unalterable, and all true judgment re- 
specting it must be ever the same. But the character of the agent is not unalter- 
able ; and a person cannot be truly judged to be wrong according to the 
wrong or past actions if he is so changed that what he once chose he would 
no longer choose." " If the character is really changed, there must be a corre- 
sponding change in all true judgments respecting the person " (pp. 116, 117). ' 



161 

So that a man who has been a sinner all his life has but to change 
in his choice, and he is accepted of God on grounds of "strictest 
rectitude " — for what he now is ; the " former conduct " not being 
reckoned to him, since his "character" is different. 

Forgiveness on the part of men towards each other, — 

Does " not " include " forgetting the wrong, nor falsely supposing the guilty to be 
innocent, but by separating past conduct from present character, no longer 
viewing the one as the expression of the other. It mat result entirely erom 
the change which has taken place, not in those who forgive, but in those who 
are forgiven. In like manner, when God forgives," " His judgment of the 
sinner is changed, because the sinner is changed.''' (123.) 

If Mr. Godwin were not afraid of speaking out his own con- 
clusion, or if he clearly understood himself, he would have said that 
the person so changed is no longer a sinner at all, for he adds, "He 
is not what he once was. The judgment of God respecting him is 
not according to his past conduct. He is not now estimated by what 
he has done or left undone. His offences are not imputed to him. 
They are set aside as [no longer] evidences against him, for their 
testimony is to what he was, not to what he is." 

Repentance thus clears off old scores ; he is a new creature ; and 
bygones are bygones ! Or, as Mr. Godwin observes, the Creator 
" must judge the penitent to be different to the impenitent." 

As to any atonement by the death of Jesus how can this be re- 
quired ? Besides Mr. Godwin tells us — " it is not easy to see how 
truth or retributive justice can be satisfied by the sufferings of the 
innocent for the guilty." (145.) 

IY. 

The Righteousness of Faith is the inherent Goodness of believing. 
Not the Saviour's Righteousness, but our own. 

fi Repentance having made a new man of the old sinner, faith now 
comes in, and, embracing all the goodness of repentance, confirms 
and completes it. It is a principle of obedience or rightness that in 
desire and purpose aims at " all rightness," and deserves to get on 
" all right" in " condition" or future happiness, as it is " all right" 
in present disposition and prospective goodness. This, and nothing 
else, is Mr. Godwin's " righteousness of faith." 

It saves Cheist feom saving sinners, for it makes every re- 
deemed man accepted for his own " rightness," and " blessed with" 
or like Christ (p. 172), as of Abraham it is said, " His faith and 
the blessing which he therefore received are presented as an example 
for all. « With thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed ' % 



182 

(p. 173). So they" who have faith in Christ " will be at last per- 
fectly righteous and blessed with the Lord" (p. 172), having the 
same relation to the Lord as to Abraham ; namely, being imitators 
of the goodness of one or both of them. 

"In many passages of the Epistles of St. Paul" " it is stated that they who 
have faith are considered or counted to have righteousness. 

" What is the lightness or righteousness which men are judged to possess ? Is 
it something which they really h^xe [yes, they 'really have ' pardon, really are 
accepted and adopted.] Or is it something which is simply attributed to them, 
which they are only supposed to have ?" " Does it belong to their conduct, their 
character, or their condition ? The answer to this question will partly depend on 
the general use in the Sacred Scriptures of the terms righteous and righteous- 
ness." (160.) 

Now, it is not "the general use" of the terms which is in 
question, but the particular use of them in reference to the point in 
hand. 

" It appears, then, to be, according to the usage of words in the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, that they who have faith in Christ for salvation, should be said to 

HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE THEY ABE REALLY EIGHT WITH GOD. He judges 

them to be right, and considers them to be right, and declares them to be right" 
— it is " a human rightness." " They must [as the very act of faith] have 
the purpose of following Him, and therefore the purpose to seek and to do all. 
that is eight" (p. 167). " They who had faith in Christ as the Son of God . . 
had the faith which is the principle of all righteousness. [This is 'the 
righteousness of faith,' not through faith, but faith itself is the rightness.] 
They became upright or righteous pesons. And so it is now with all who 
have this faith in Christ," which " faith" means " the full and deliberate deter- 
mination of the will to observe and obey all that is right" (168). 

'• If by trusting to Christ it has become the real choice of their mind to seek 
the righteousness which He bequieed [not which He bestows, but ' up- 
rightness of character,' which we are to obtain], and the righteousness which He 
promised [namely, that we shall be all right hereafter in ' condition' in ' conse- 
quence' of being upright in ' character' now] , then they are declared to be righteous 
persons. And they are righteous. There is a rightness belonging to them, to 
their choice and purpose.''' . . (169.) 

" They who have the righteousness of God are judged to be right, 

and ARE IN THEIR OWN CHARACTER UPRIGHT" (p. 189.) 

y 

The Death of Christ only a model Death, as His life was only a 
model life. 

According to Professor Godwin, the death of Christ was not 
something unique, peculiar, and unrivalled, but a standard exhibi- 
tion of those common principles of obedience and submission to the 
Divine will which are to be repeated by all Christians, and by 
which they, like Him, are to be " made perfect through sufferings." 



163 

There is no place in Mr. Godwin's system for the death of Christ 
as an expiating sacrifice for human sins; for "as in this faith 
there is the repentance to which forgiveness is promised, and the 
uprightness of heart which God requires and approves" (p. 294,) 
there is nothing left for the death of Christ to accomplish. Christ, 
indeed, " sought to change the relation of men to God, but this 
could be effected only by a change in them. He came to bring men 
into submission to the Divine will, and make them righteous." 
(p. 284.) 

" He went forward to death because He would "not cease to promote right, 
and taught his disciples to do the same, thus to take up the cross and follow 
Him" (p. 58.)- " He required of men nothing but a willingness to receive this 
[eternal] life : but as it consisted in a resemblance to Him, it could only be 
received by learning of Him and following Him" (p. 60.) 

" His example was a pattern of the good to be desired, and of the course 
to be chosen" (p. 69.) 

"His life was a perpetual service and perfect sacrifice" (p. 62.) " But [His 
life] did not receive its highest manifestation until He suffered and died on the 
cross." " His lessons were not completed, nob was he a complete example 
for men until he died" (p. 63.) 

'"Desire for what is good for ourselves is increased, and hope is strengthened, 
by what is shown to us of righteousness and its reward in the person of Christ " 
(p. 86.) This " reward" will be ours, when we display this " righteousness." He 
was the example of both. " There maybe suffering [in our lot] as in the history 
of our Lord, and its design may be the good of others, its reward, the blessed- 
ness of those who are saved by a service of suffering" (p. 86.) 

" Our Lord frequently referred to the course of earthly labour and suffering 
which would precede the reward and joy of heaven .... The Faith required of 
men was the acceptance of the service and the reward"" (p. 155.) 

This is to be saved by our own cross, " saved by a service of suffer- 
ing." Thus we are " reconciled to G-od by the death of His Son," 
as we forgive Him and trust Him in all our sufferings, to make it 
up in the end ; as was done in the case of Jesus ! 



"The distrust of the Divine benevolence, which is always experienced when we 
look only to the visible and present, cannot remain when the love of God is seen 
in the person of Chbist ; when chastisement is felt to produce the peaceable 
fruit of righteousness ; and when it is known that afflictions, light and momentary, 
will work out a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory." (p. 225.) 

" He did not seek to make them immediately wise, happy and perfect, as they 
ultimately would be ; but to prepare them for that couese of seeking, sebving 
and suffering, which is the appointed loay through which all the sons of God 
must pass, that they in due time may come to the glory of their Lord. (p. 250.) 

Thus we, like Him, are to be " made perfect through suffering." " Men have 
learned from Christ the uses of suffering, as they were not known before; and 
thus they have been enabled to trust in God and to rejoice in afflictions, as they 
could not before." (305.) 



164 

This is " reconciliation to God by the death of His Son," as we 
see in Christ's death and reward a pledge of the recompense of our 
patient, trustful endurance of afflictions; " the best service, even of 
the perfect, is seen in the service of suffering. Those things have 
been made evident by the histoby of Christ and the experience of 
His disciples." (305.) Their only value to us is as leaders, models, 
or historical examples ! 

When we have Cheist's faith and submission to God's afflictive 
discipline, we shall have Christ's reward: — "The Saviour saw all 
the difficulties, dangers, and distresses of man's state in this world: 
• . . He was not overcome by this great grief, for he trusted in 
God, and theeefoee had ivhat He promised to His disciples [on the 
same terms], a peace and joy which the world could neither give nor 
take away. As men learn from Him, and have His faith, they 
look to God as the chief good ; . . . and they have a joy like that 
of Christ." (p. 290.) Their faith is rewarded as His was. " He 
suffered for us that we might learn from Him how to suffer, sub- 
mitting ourselves to the will of God." (306.) That is, His suffering 
"for us," was in being our patteen, not oue substitute ; that 
" we may make our lives sublime," as He made His ; "the lives of 
great men ail remind us" — of the same thing ! 

"He went before them in the service [of suffering] which they feared. His 
own experience and example supplied what was needed by His disciples." (307.) 
" He has shown us how the children of God should die." (317.) '• They learn 
from His example to trust in God" in affliction, danger, and death ; — that " death 
is a service appointed for their good, and that of others." (316.) " We see in 
His death [as a specimen] that submission to the Divine Will is right, [i.e., 
advantageous] whatever sacrifice and suffering it may involve. We see that it is 
for the honour of God, the giver of life and all its joys, that those gifts, when 
required should be returned, not reluctantly but willingly." (p. 315.) This willing 
submission and surrender of life was the pattern set us in Jesus. ' He was made 
perfect through suffering,' and ' submission to the Divine Will should be perfected 
in men, by the sufferings and surrender of death.' " 

" It is then [when so surrendered] a service profitable to man and pleasing to 
God, just in proportion to the greatness of the loss [as if a man is young or rich] 
and the suffering which are included in it." (p. 315.) 

It is by this proportion that Mr. Godwin exalts the loss and 
sacrifice of Jesus ; He was in a fair position, and had a very pro- 
mising life before Him, which He was under no necessity of 
surrendering ! 

" In all the services and sacrifices of life, there is actually but a 
partial surrender of what we have to God ; but in death all we 
aee and have must be eesioned." (p. 312.) 



165 

He admits that where men die from necessity, because they cannot 
help it, or with insensibility, not caring about it ; or where they 
accept it as a release from present evils, it is not " a service." 

" In such cases there can be no submission to the Divine will, no confidence 
in the love of God. It is not thus that we should wish to die (!). It was not 
thus that Christ died." " Death had long been to Him an object of clear 
apprehension. [He was not insensible.] He might have avoided it [it was 
not a necessity] ; and when He gave up life, all the possibilities op earthly 
good were present, and might have been realised. [He means Christ 
did not seek death as a refuge from ills] : He had everything to render the 

CONTINUANCE OP LIFE PLEASANT AND DESIRABLE " (p. 312). 

Yes, He had many such friends around Him, as sometimes now 
advocate His cause. Mr. Godwin here exalts the sacrifice of Christ 
by the "sacrifice" He made in giving up very good earthly prospects, 
which style keeps up the old word — sackifice — in a new meaning. 
Thus I make a "sacrifice" in losing friendships, position, and 
income, for speaking the truth ; in like manner we exalt the 
heroism of a young man who faces death with confidence when 
a life of pleasure lies open to him ! It is impossible more deeply 
to degrade the holiest character and the sublimest theme ; — the 
death of Jesus was a surrender more pleasing to God in " proportion" 
to His losses in losing such a life and prospect as He enjoyed here ! 

VI. 

As THE DEATH OF ChKIST WAS ONLY A MODEL DEATH, SO HlS FAITH IN 

God was a model faith. — We are saved as He was, if we believe 
in God as He did, and if in proof of this faith, we ourselves submit 
in the surrender, service, and sacrifice of death, as He did. 

The re-iterated declarations that we are to believe in Christ Him- 
self and not in His work, come at last to mean that we are to 
believe like Christ and in our own work ; specially that we are to 
render the greatest service and honour to God, — namely that of 

DYING WILLINGLY. 

Christ is " the Way" not as doing anything for us that we have 
not to do, but as Columbus is to all men " the way" to America, 
though all who intend to arrive there must take a berth and pay 
their own way or work their passage ! So He died for us, to show us 
how it should be done, not to do anything for us, as in our stead ! 

We are also saved by His life, as it becomes our life as our 
" experience" approaches His. This is hinted on pages 171, 172, 
and is a specimen of "the spirit of truth" which pervades the writer. 

In the sliding scale of meanings, the " faith in Jesus" — trusting 
Christ as a Person, in opposition to or exclusion of His work — 



166 

comes to be the faith of Jesus— " His faith" — the confidence which 
He had in God, and which we are to have ; faith in the Saviour 
meaning no more than accepting His example of confidence in God. 
" They learn from His example [of dying] to trust in God ;" that, like 
other trials, death " too is a service appointed for their good and that of others" 
— a service in which they, like Him, give " the highest expression of submission 
to their Father's will and trust in their Father's love" — a service of submission 
and trust which is "the means of perfecting them in the likeness of their Lord* 
(p, 316.) This likeness of Christ consists in " having His faith" and submission 
to the Divine will. " They who seek to follow Christ in the course of life are- 
enabled to follow Him in the day of death" (p. 317.) 

That is, to display in dying the same faith in God as Christ did 
when He died. This is the faith in Jesus, and all the faith which 
Mr. Godwin means, as we "go forward to death, walking in the 
footsteps of our Lord" (p. 316.) All those passages which we have 
quoted to show that Christ's merely model death teaches us how to 
trust in God, to submit to His will in the allotment of afflictions as 
the prelude to glory ; and all the many similar passages in the work 
which we have noted but not quoted, converge towards this same fact, 
that by faith in Jesus, trusting to His person, Mr. Godwin means, 
merely accepting Jesus as an example in the matter of faith*— ? 
entertaining the same confidence as He did, submitting to God's 
afflictive dispensations, that as in His sufferings "there was no 
impatience or discontent" (p. 814), so there should be none in 
ours. As He was so far " reconciled to God" as to endure willingly 
the regularly appointed path of suffering, so His imitators have 
"the clearer consciousness that they are really reconciled to 
God, reconciled by the death of Christ, as they are thereby con- 
strained and enabled to surrender themselves entirely to the Divine 
will" (pp. 293, 294). This is our reconciliation to God, by faith 
in the death of Jesus, as the sort of death which we are to die, 
believing, as He did, that God will " reward" our "goodness," the 
"righteousness of" our "faith," because it is the same as the 
" righteousness of Christ," which God has rewarded already as a 
representative case — " the first-born among many brethren." That 
by faith in Jesus Mr. Godwin means only imitating the faith of 
Jesus is further illustrated in this sentence : — " As men have faith 
in Christ they will view all objects as they were viewed by Him, in 
connection with God and eternity, and so they will feel in reference 
to them as lie felt" (p. 303). Faith in Jesus here means enter- 
taining the same opinions and sentiments ; it is the faith of Jesus 
— that which He exercised. This view is completed by the follow- 
ing statement : — 



167 

He trusted in God [in the face of afflictions belonging to man's state on 
earth], and therefore had [as the reward of His trust] what He promised to His 
disciples [on the same terms and for the same trust], a peace and joy which the 
world could neither give nor take away. As men learn of Him and have His 
faith, they look to God as the chief good, and they have a joy like that of 
Christ" (p. 290). 

This is because they have a faith like that of Christ — not faith in 
Him, but a faith like His ; the " faith in Him" being only a philo- 
sophical quibble to intimate that His was a kepeesentative case ; 
it means believing in the way that saved Him as the way that will 
save us. And Mr. Godwin lets out this fundamental fallacy or 
equivocation by the phrase which confesses the whole — " as men 
learn of Him and have His faith." 

Henceforth let no man be deceived by "the cunning craftiness" 
of heterodox teachers using orthodox language ; when they say 
" We also believe in Christ," they mean we believe as Christ 
believed ; we have " His faith" in God's justice, that He will 
reward our righteousness and submission ; we are reconciled to 
Him, and no more "murmur" at those afflictions on the road, 
which the case of Jesus proves will be rewarded in the end, if we 
suffer as resignedly as Jesus did ! 

TIL 

The natuee of Cheist and of His condescension, not to earth, 
but on earth, as living in poverty when he might have been a 
millionaire. 

"The Divinity which was manifested through the human nature 
of Jesus existed before all worlds," and it was "the Word 
of God," or the "Name of God," which " Word of God became 
human" in Jesus (p. 71), was " manifested through His human 
nature" (page 72), and was formerly revealed in the manifold opera- 
tions of nature and humanity. 

God did not, according to Mr. Godwin, send His Son into the 
world, but, as he says adroitly, " to the world" (p. 72). Nor is 
Jesus the object of our faith, but God, who " must be the object 
of faith in respect to the manifestation given in the person of 
His Son." 

Not only was not Cheist sent "into" the world, but only "to the 
world" like the other messengers ; — but further it seems very clear, 
according to Mr. Godwin, that Jesus could not be sent into the 
world, for He never existed before ; at least, there is no proof of it 
in such passages as are usually relied upon. 



168 

For instance, we read : — " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that, though He was kich, yet for your sakes he became 
poor, that ye, through His poverty, might be rich" (2 Cor. viii. 9). 

" Who, being in the form of God," "took upon Himself the form of 
a servant" (Philipp. ii. 6). But all this is explained away by Mr. 
Godwin in the following Rationalistic style (p. 56) : — 

' All the wealth of the world was at His command ; but though thus rich, 
He became poor ; He chose the condition of poverty, that He might be more 
useful ; that men through His poverty might be made rich. He had dominion 
over the persons of men, and the elements of nature, all things being committed 
to His hands. But this power was employed only in doing good to men. The 
Loud of all took the form of a servant, coming not to be ministered to, but to 
minister.' ' He who had all the possessions oe earth at His disposal, gave up 
all for the good of men. He who was above all in dignity and authority, des- 
cended to the lowest state and service for tbe good of men. In the love of Christ 
there is a breadth and length, a height and depth, which surpass hnowledge. n 

Mr. Godwin may well fly off in ecstacies on the love of Jesus ; 
this is the best escape from the unfathomable depths of his criti- 
cism upon it, in which he has managed to bring " the Lord of all" 
down to a very poor condition indeed : the only other question is, 
how we are to get rich by such sort of poverty ? 

It was no wealth of heaven, but " the wealth of this world," " the 
possessions of earth," which the Saviour is here said to have given 
up ; only, unfortunately, He never had them, according to Mr. 
Godwin's account. He was " thus rich," — that He could have been, 
if He had been able and disposed to prostrate His miraculous 
powers for His personal aggrandisement, which is generally sup- 
posed to be a stretch beyond the power of any agent in such a case ; 
for the miracles are to be wrought in furtherance of the mission, 
and therefore no messengers, as such, ever had the power to work 
miracles contrary to the object of their mission; consequently in no 
view of the case can our Lord be said to have had " the posses- 
sions of the world at His command, all the wealth of the world at 
His disposal," to make provision for the lusts of the flesh. 

This fancied abstemiousness on His part from doing an act or a 
series of acts which would have frustrated the purpose for which He 
was " sent to the world," is but a case of common honesty, in not 
doing what He had as a messenger no right to do. He " was 
voluntarily poor" (p. 305). 

But how we get rich, because He never was rich, and thus 
" became poor" from having nothing, is still a puzzle. Are our 
riches to be of the same sort as those which He omitted to seize 
unfaithfully ? Is any Christian in the world a penny the richer 



169 

because Cheist had not a shilling in His pocket ; and because Christ 
had " not where to lay His head," do His followers " live in kings' 
houses ?" 

This miserable sophistry makes Christ poor indeed, for He has 
nothing to give away but the example of not committing robbery to 
get rich, a thing that would never be noticed in a society of honest 
men ; but this is the richest crown which Mr. Godwin can afford 
for the Saviour. 

Those hollow words, " the Lord of all," " above all in dignity," 
mean only One Who could have been rich if He could have forgotten 
His plainest duty, and prostituted Divine powers for human wealth 
and pomp ! This phrase, " Lord of all," is no more than is ascribed 
to Alexander Selkirk : — 

" I am monarch of all I survey." 

This is the reed sceptre and purple robe with which Mr Godwin 
mocks and bedizens the Saviour of the world. Yet we are assured 
that it is in Him Himself that we are to believe, not in the riches of 
His grace, not in His precious blood, not in the royalty of heaven 
which He left for a time, to enrich us with the purchase of His con- 
descension and death, but in One Whose wealth was never possessed, 
Who never was a rich Man, but only could have been if He had not 
been an honest One ; and who, by a life of poverty, left the world so 
much richer than it would have been if He had used His miraculous 
power to turn stones into bread or dross into gold. 

This is turning gold into dross, disenchanting the name of Jesus 
of all its power, that we, no longer having " propositions" to trust to, 
may trust to a " Person" Whose highest benefit to us is that He 
lived very poor when He might have been very well off. 

No, this is not the person in whom we trust. We look to One 
for Whom the highest station on earth would have been but as the 
cell of a prison ; to Whom the greatest possessions of earth would 
have been infinitely puerile and mean, and Who will bestow on all 
who rely on His cross a crown of glory before which all the crowns 
of the world and all its rarest gems are toys and baubles. It is no 
compensation for this debasement of Jesus to tell us that the 
" eternal Word was manifested through His human nature," — 
" became human" in Him (pp. 71, 72) ; and that Jesus, like every 
other creature, is "a form of the operation and manifestation of 
God." These are idle words, to fill men's ears with sounds and 
their hearts with disappointment, — the apples of Sodom, tempting 
to the eyes, bitter to the taste, and fatal to the health of the soul. 



170 

Such is the theology defended by " some of our most esteemed 
ministers," who, knowing these things, are only angry at meforproving 
them ; and treat it as Mr. Lynch's " blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" 
to explode and condemn the following monstrous errors : — That 
Christian faith is blind trust, and has no reference to the work of 
Christ ; that the object of faith is not the death of Jesus, or any 
proposition about Him, but only trusting Himself in the abstract ; 
that this "trust in Jesus Christ Himself," or faith in Him, means 
a faith like that of Jesus ; — "His faith," which means ouks; that 
repentance clears off all sins as a matter of justice ; that faith is 
inherent, all-sufficient righteousness, without regard to or reliance 
on the righteousness of another; that the Epistles are of no 
authority where they seem to go beyond the four Gospels ; that the 
Holy Ghost is a Spirit of Goodness ; the Spirit of Truth, a truthful 
disposition ; that the church is the Holy Ghost to convert the 
world ; that the death of Jesus is no more than any other man's 
may be and ought to be, — only a model sacrifice for our imitation ; 
that the Eternal Word is in everything, as " a personal presence," 
(p. 329) ; and was equally " present in Jesus." 

It is time our colleges and pulpits were purged from this fatal 
taint and spiritual leprosy ; and if these reviews shall in any way 
contribute to awaken the watchmen of Zion, and put the Church on 
its guard ; — if they shall arm the enquirer against the insidious 
attacks of a latent scepticism, and preserve untarnished the honour 
of Christ and the glory of His cross : — if any are hereby aided in 
their efforts to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints ; — 
if, through our instrumentality, God shall mercifully open the eyes 
of any who may have been blinded, and enable them to rescue 
others ; — if the understanding of the artifices and sophistry here 
exposed shall increase the number of those "having their senses 
exercised to discern both good and evil," we shall be able to rejoice 
with the Apostle Paul, that " the things which have happened," and 
which at first seemed injurious, "have fallen out rather unto the 
furtherance of the Gospel ; " that " as always, so also now, CHRIST 
SHALL BE MAGNIFIED." 



171 

Chapter XVI. 
THE COMMOTION IN THE PATRIOT OFFICE, AND A 
COUNCIL OF WAR TO PUT DOWN CRITICISM; OR 
THE REVENGE FOR THE RESCUE OF FAITH. 

The strictures on Professor Godwin's work, called " Christian 
Faith," — called so by that sarcastic peculiarity of language which 
calls those who have the narrowest creed "Broad Churchmen;." 
those who resent earnest orthodoxy, "Liberal Christians;" those 
who are the most exclusive, " Catholics ;" those who are the greatest 
slaves, " Independents ; " and those who have no reason, " Ration- 
alists," — caused no small stir among the more affected intellectualists 
of " our body," who had stood as cherubim with flaming swords 
before the throne of Godwin, 

Not that they all openly espoused his sentiments, but that they 
liked the honour of maintaining "a little latitude," and reserved to 
themselves the right of genteelly rebuking his departure from the 
faith, which at, the same time they condoned on the ground of 
that spiritual goodness which transcends dogmas, and is upon the 
whole a respectable affair. But now that an obscure provincial, 
and what is worse, one who had in the " Rivulet controversy" rudely 
torn the delicate screen , of pretended generosity and justice with 
which they had vainly sought to cover and adorn their lack of both, 
j — that this one should presume to expound fearlessly the errors 
which they had gently corrected and were tenderly caressing, was 
such as invasion of their Metropolitan jurisdiction as must be sum- 
marily put down. So in their collective wisdom they concocted an 
-article, which, no one of them could be accused of writing, because 
several of them had a hand in it. 

At the time that this was completed the Rev. J. B. Paton, M.A., 
then of Cavendish College, Manchester, in connection with the 
Rev. Dr. Parker, and now of Nottingham Theological Institute, 
entered the Patriot Office, and was shown the " article" that had 
been done on me. The figure by which it was introduced was so 
maggotty that it made him feel bad, and he assumed the liberty of a 
character in Shakespere, — "Nay, but if your metaphor" is odori- 
ferous, " I will hold my nose." He protested to the editor so- 
called, but slanderously called, by one whom some think a very 
good judge — "a nose of wax," thumbed and twisted to any shape 
by the Metropolitan clique of liberal theologians — that if such an 
article did appear he should be obliged to throw up the Patriot, 
meaning that if he could by an effort swallow so nauseous a dose 
g2 



172 

he could not undertake to retain it. This modified if it did not 
mollify the " wax," and that particular figure was abandoned ; after 
which an effort was made to concoct an article that should be 
equally venomous but not quite so nasty. 

This information of Mr. Paton's visit to the Patriot office, and 
his successful protest against the first form of liberal revenge on 
orthodox criticism, I had from a safe source, described at the time ^s 
" a carrier pigeon from Manchester." 

The combination of minds in doing up the final article was 
acknowledged by the editor in a letter to the Rev. Arthur Mursell, 
who, with a frankness and courage natural to him, publicly protested 
against the raving insanity of the Patriot howl, even in its latest and 
gentlest modulation. 

Having stated these " dry facts," as Mr. Binney would express it, 
I may without the least exaggeration, or over-stepping the modesty 
of nature and verisimilitude, draw upon imagination for the method 
by which the amended article was licked into shape and fitted to 
come out for the edification of the Christian public. 

A council of war must be held in this crisis of affairs : that 
something must be done was manifest ; that the originally proposed 
missile was more dangerous to themselves than to the object; of 
their conspiracy was sorrowfully conceded. 

The editor was in a fix ; the orders and arrangements were, that 
the condemned shell should be fired. What was he to do ? Nothing 
was easier than to let his more cautious adviser meet with the 
unfortunate concoctors and point out the danger of their intended 
operations. 

They would be dropping in soon to revise the proofs, and see if 
any more vigour could be infused into the new " Protest." 

The adviser agrees to call again at the time when some of " the 
immortal Fifteen" — the original protestors — would most likely have 
assembled. On his return he finds, say, Messrs. Binney, Allon, 
Newman Hall, Baldwin Brown, &c, assembled to " see the 
thing through." 

" How is this, Mr. Paton ? You have induced Mr. Turberville 
to violate his promise ? It was 'the general understanding' that the 
article should go in as it was, and you have frightened him out of 
his propriety !" 

" No, Mr. Binney ; I tried to frighten him into propriety, for no 
critical nose could stand that maggotty illustration. You will all be 
blown upon — fly-blown, I mean." " We did not think you were 
so very delicate, Mr. Paton ; besides, have you considered who it is 
on whom we wish to do summary justice ?" 



173 

" That is the very point which you should consider. In trying 
to snuff him out you may only burn your fingers. He will proclaim 
it as an acknowledgment that he cannot be answered, and therefore 
is abused." 

I " I take it that we do not wish to answer him," said poor 
Turbekville \ " the point is, that none of us defends Godwin's 
theology : our stand is on the amenities of controversy." 

" Do you reckon that article a specimen ?" inquired Mr. Paton, 
with his winning smile. " You know what you said about ' the 
Protest,' Mr. Binney — that < the whole thing was an error ?' " 

"True; but I changed the subject, and came down on Dr. 
Campbell's 'moral character' for republishing the articles which 
detected the error and forced the confession." 

"It is not a good augury," said Mr. Paton ; " you first shifted 
your ground, and next could not maintain your new position, for fit 
was irrele vent, and it was another i error.' " 

1 Mr. Binney, who is the leading mind among the Protestors, 
knowing well that Mr. Paton is the cleverest fellow and best 
manager present, quietly resolves to cave in, saying, — "Well, we 
must make the best of the situation. Let two of the brethren 
retire and revise the article, and read the whole thing to us in an 
amended form." 

After some botching, blotching and tinkeriDg, the two brethren 
returned and gave the amended article to Mr. Tukbeeville, who 
read as follows, and inserted the same in the Patriot of October 23, 
1862:-^- 

THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY. 

Theological controversy has obtained a bad pre-eminence. Let a man but depart 
from accepted theological doctrine, and no matter how excellent his personal 
character may be, or how impersonal and modest his assertions, he is generally 
assailed with every offensive missile that the vocabulary of abuse or the genius 
1 of insinuation can furnish. Instead of a regretful judicial necessity devolved 
upon grave Christian brethren, an eager, exulting mob madly rushes into the 
fray, and only clamours are heard, where the voice of the judgment-seat should 
be calmly pronounced. Instead of a defence of truth in the spirit of truth, 
hundreds of tongues and pens are loosed utterly destitute of qualification— either 
of theological knowledge or of high Christian rectitude. Nothing has been 
more disgraceful than the theological controversies of late years Men with un- 
scrupulous pens, thinking any weapon lawful that might damage an antagonist. 
i defending truth in the essential spirit of falsehood, have professed to "rescue 
faith" by methods that might well make all honest men infidels, — " orthodox 
liars for God," they think themselves right, and are thought right by others 
simply because they may be on the right side. Nothing so damages a cause, 
however good in itself, as bad advocacy, and nothing so damages a Christian 
g3 



174 

cause as an unchristian spirit. It is of more importance that a man should 
himself he true than even that he should utter true things. In the one case he 
is sincerely mistaken, in the other he is consciously false. 

At this stage the enquiry was made — whether the Patriot was 
writing this against itself, or against anybody else ? Whether it 
was intended as an illustration of the " bad pre-eminence " 
" obtained by theological controversy ? " 

Mr. Newman Hall replied that it was plainly pointed at the author 
of the " Kescue of Faith." " True,'' said the objector, " but is it to* 
illustrate the only way in which his criticism can be evaded ? " Mr. 
Paton was afraid that Mr. Gkant would ask " if the Orthodox are ; 
liars for God, — whom do the heterodox lie for?" It was 
decided however, that Mr. Gkant would not be permitted to answer, 
in the Patriot, and it would only be necessary to persuade its 
readers that he is unworthy of notice. 

" In that case," observed the persistent objector, " it would be 
more consistent not to notice him, and so to avoid contradicting 
yourselves by a palpable — ' error.' " 

Mr. Newman Hall thought it was a very allowable figure of 
speech, to say that the person whom you feel bound to notice is not 
worth notice. Besides, he considered that they need not be very- 
particular how they treated such a person as I was. 

So that the reading was continued : — 

The effects produced hy such self-constituted champions of orthodoxy are simply 
these — first, that many earnest lovers of truth shrink from a lawful warfare with 
error lest they should be confounded with these unworthy assailants of it ; next, 
that all healthy moral sympathy passes over from the side of truth, where it 
would otherwise be found, to the side of error. Instead of a just judicial retribu- 
tion, which all men would approve, the errorist is made a martyr, and the 
injustice and excess of what he suffers makes all men pity him ; and we all know- 
how excessive pity for a criminal diminishes the sense of his crime. Hence, too, 
it is that outside the religious world sympathies are always arrayed on the side 
of heretics ; of course this is always and with characteristic charity put down 
to the badness of the human heart, but may it not spring in part from its vebt 
goodness — may it not be the effect of the uniform want of judicial fairness and 
of Christian forbearance that characterizes theological controversies ? If one 
thing be more certain than another, it is that the " wrath of man cannot work 
the righteousness of God," and that the cause of truth is far more discredited in 
the world by its unscrupulous jriends than by its avowed enemies. How many a 
man whom fairness and brotherly kindness would have reclaimed from incipient 
error, has been goaded into its maturity by unscrupulous argument and abuse. 
The universal moral sense of mankind must revolt at the arguments and insinua- 
tions which are not only thought right by the ivretched men who use them, but 
which, — alas, that we should have it to say ! are endorsed and applauded by 
honourable men who look on, and who permit their fear of heterodoxy to over- 
power their sense of righteousness, and who wink hard at almost any means that 
may secure the end that they desire. 



175 

■ For ourselves we are resolved that, come what may, incur what suspicions we 
may, we will never, without an earnest protest, permit a holy cause to be main- 
tained by unholy weapons ; ice will denounce unscrupulous advocacy of truth as 
loudly as unscrupulous assaults upon it ; and we earnestly call upon all high- 
minded men in our churches to join us in this — to be strong enough in faith and 
righteous enough in feeling to roprobate with all the strength of their Christian 
conscience every writer who is either unfair in argument or vindictive in feeling. 
If they would but be persuaded of it, they would by so doing promote the interests 
of orthodoxy a hundredfold ; they would exalt and honour it, instead of discredit- 
ing it, as it is now too often discredited. 

Our own criticism of Professor Godwin's Congregational Lectures was, we 
believe, the first that appeared ; and we did not hesitate fully and uncompromis- 
ingly to express our opinion of it, and we trust, with a scrupulous regard to 
Christian righteousness and charity, our dissent from many of its positions ; 
and if, as seems probable, the controversy which it has occasioned should be 
maintained, we shall not hesitate in the same spirit to take our part in it again. 
And, therefore, although it is a trick common enough to confound objection to an 
advocate with objection to a cause, we do not fear being misunderstood by our 
readers when toe seek to relieve our souls by expressing in the strongest language 
of which we are capable, our unutterable dislike and disgust at such criticisms 
as Mr. Brewin Grant has thought proper to indulge in. We speak in deliberate 
words when we say that a more arrogant, vulgar, and unchristian diatribe has 
never fallen into our hands. We are compelled to say that so far as the indi- 
cations of this pamphlet may be trusted, for of Mr. Grant otherwise we know 
nothing, he appears destitute of every intellectual faculty that can constitute a 
literary critic, and of every moral quality that should characterise a Christian 
one. 

Here it was observed that the article was too mild, and gave the 
person criticised too much credit ; for if what it said was true, the 
writer thus described was too highly honoured by the expenditure 
of so much bile. It was further asked whether there was any one 
there who did not " know" the writer "otherwise " than by " The 
Rescue of Faith ? " But it was agreed that this also was "a figure of 
speech," and would prevent people from thinking that they were 
revenging themselves for their defeat in the Rivulet affair. 

The objector suggested that it would only turn attention to that 
affair ; while all the country knew the writer from his lectures and 
discussions on popular infidelity. Could they not hide their motives 
by a less obvious crammer ? 

They were afraid he was at bottom a friend of the person criti- 
cised : whereupon he offered to retire, saying that he knew some 
leading men who regarded " The Rescue of Faith" as a very able 
production, and he should have liked to hear some direct answer 
to its main arguments. 

He was requested to stay a few moments, and was told that the 
next part of the article pointed out some of the writer's references 
to Mr. Godwin. " But," said he "does it give bis grounds for them; 



176 

and do you anywhere touch on the doctrinal questions which he so 
fully discusses ? Do you enter at all into the merits of the ques-^ 
tion ?" " Well, now," said one of the tinkerers, " there is a little 
lower down a reference to that, to show that it is not worth notice." 
" I should like," said the objector, ** to see how you show that, after 
the lengthened notice you have elaborated." " This passage," said 
Mr. Turberville, " is all we think necessary on the merits of the 
question :" 

" Upon Mr. Grant's arguments and analysis we cannot spend a line ; they 
may be very powerful, or they may be worthless — the language in which they are 
clothed, and the spirit in which they are conceived, deprive them of all claim to 
attention. If there are any persons who can attach to them any weight what- 
ever, we can only say that they are not the persons whom we care to address." 

At the first sentence, Mr. Paton whistled involuntarily ; at the 
conclusion he laughed outright. "Then" says he, " you give it 
up ?" The reader continued : — 

" Mr. Godwin, we believe, was Mr. Grant's tutor, and whatever may be his 
theological errors, all his students bear the strongest testimony to his spiritual 
goodness and personal kindness. For Mr. Grant, therefore, to be capable of 
writing with so much personal vindictiveness argues something extremely dis- 
creditable either to his College course or to his present feelings. Mr. Grant 
might have deemed it necessary to review Mr. Godwin's book, and to controvert 
its propositions ; but a right-hearted man would have felt it a • burden of the 
Lord,' and would have done it with respectful diffidence and with reluctant sorr 
row. He has done it with gloating eagerness and a malignant fierceness which 
would have been unseemly in any Christian brother, but which, coming from am 
old student, is an indication of a nature as incapable of gratitude and delicacy 
as of courtesy and charity." 

The same objector here asked them if they had read " the Intro- 
duction" to the " The Rescue of Faith," and if so, whether they did 
not know that their " gloating eagerness" and absence of the 
" burden of the Lord" were absolutely untrue ? He further affirmed 
that the Rescuer's delay and indifference, the urgency of others, who 
brought the matter before him, requesting him to review "Christian- 
Faith," the renewed application to recall his attention, the suppo- 
sition that his notice of the preface would suffice — matters that are- 
published, and to which there are witnesses, — were too glaring to be 
ignored. 

As to a " burden of the Lord," the published statements of the 
sorrowful necessity laid on the writer to expose errors which at first 
he never expected to meet with, stamp the Patriot article with a 
very ugly word. " Have you read," he asked, " this sentence on 
the first page: — ' The character of the volume unfolded lecture by 
lecture ; the reviewer was amazed and pained at every discovery of 



177 

Borne new error,' &c. Or this, on the second page :— 'It is because 
the gospel of Christ is our only resource in life, and death, and for 
eternity ; because this is not only our own and only help in our 
need, but our only means of helping others, by proclaiming pardon 
through His cross,' &c. ; and, ' for all these reasons the reviewer 
has been impelled to follow out this subject, and to present it in this 
separate form for the consideration of the candid and enquiring.' " 

Is this the style which you characterize after the fashion just 
read ? Does it not look like bearing false witness ? Mr. Binney 
requested that the reading of the article should be concluded, on 
which Mr. Tuebekville read as follows : — 

" The Bev. J. H. Hinton has indited some ' Strictures on Mr. Godwin's 
lectures in a very different spirit ; we owe him an apology for placing them in 
such an association. He maintains what he thinks to be Scriptural truth against 
what he thinks to be Mr. Godwin's errors with the most uncompromising firm- 
ness and with great warmth and earnestness ; but he never violates either argu- 
mentative fairness or Christian courtesy. If all criticisms were imbued with the 
same spirit, religious controversy would not be the reproach that it too often is 
now. Of course they produce a corresponding effect. Mr. Godwin courteously 
acknowledges them, and announces his reply to them. Mr. Hinton's positions 
are not always ours — some of them, it appears to us, would involve very ques- 
tionable inferences ; but, in the main, he is successful in making good his 
objections against Mr. Godwin, and in demonstrating how untenable and 
unscriptural some of his conclusions are. We shall, however, wait for Mr. 
Godwin's rejoinder, most fervently praying that it may clear away some of 
those ambiguities and errors of his book which have most naturally and season- 
ably awakened the anxieties and jealousies of Ms brethren and of the friends 
of New College." 

The objector said he thought they had not quite represented the 
real " spirit in which" the Rescue of Faith " was conceived," and 
recommended to them the following sentence from its intro- 
duction : — 

" Faithfulness to the Great Head of the Church — Whose work 
and teachings are thus burlesqued by one whose office is to repre- 
sent Him rightly and to instruct others how to urge the terrors of 
the Lord and the mercies of our God, the wrath revealed from 
heaven and the mercy that delivers from the wrath to come, through 
Jesus Christ, — lays upon us the necessity of raising our voice again 
and again, that we, at least, may be freed from the blood of all men 
by doing our best to accomplish what Mr. Godwin says is f the 
advantage of all proper punishment' — ' the prevention of the conti- 
nuance of wrong, or the prevention of the influence and imitation 
of wrong' (p. 144). 

' " It is sad enongh to think that such a necessity is laid upon us, 
and that in the chief of our institutions for. the education of the 



178 

Independent ministry, instead of the citadel of truth we should find the 
receptacle and stronghold of such doctrines and their emissaries !" 

After hearing this they were not ashamed, neither did they blush; 
they only hoped that the public would never know the real nature 
and motive of their Patriotic criticism, and so returned every one 
to his own home, expecting to enjoy the next Patriot, and to hear 
no more of the reviewer who had so disturbed their equanimity. 

I: 



Chapter XYII. 

THE PATRIOT OFFICE BARRICADED AND FORCED : 

OR CALUMNY DEFERRING TO LAW. 

The " Immortal Fifteen," who could no more answer "The Rescue 
of Faith" than "What's it all About," having displayed "the 
uniform want of judicious fairness that characterizes their theolo- 
gical controversies," by the honour of their attack, next showed their 
sense of their incompetency to argue, by the valour of their retreat. 

They hastily closed and barricaded the door of the Patriot office, 
cowering into a corner, and directed the bewildered editor to send 
the following acknowledgment — 

"The Patriot Office, 3, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C., 

" October 29th, 1862. 
"The Editor of the Patriot respectfully declines to insert Mr. Grant's letter, 
which he returns to him herewith." 

At first, I thought the pronoun "he" referred to me as the 
nearest antecedent ; it is editorial English. But as to the readers- 
of the Patriot, — how were " the Fifteen" to deal with them ? Oh ! 
said the editor, I " will persuade " them " and secure you." (Matt, 
xxviii., 14.) Everything will be right if we can but keep the critic 
out of the Patriot. 

Accordingly he inserted, Oct. 30, the following : — 
TO COBBESPONDENTS. 

" We have received a letter from the Be v. Brewin Grant, which is inadmis- 
sible in our columns ; first, on account of its style, which is that of the pamphlet 
we condemned ; secondly, because it is merely an expression of opinion upon our 
opinion, which can manifestly serve no purpose, and opens up a controversy to 
which there would be no end." 

The publisher and editor were at once informed that unless they 
allowed the same space, type, and place in the Patriot for a vindi^ 
cation, as had been employed in maligning the author of the 
Rescue of Faith, they would hear again of the matter. 



179 



This brought the following note : — 



" Sib, — As we are unable to perceive any attack on your character in the 
article to which you allude, we shall be obliged if you will point out the sentences 
in which you conceive this to have been done, and they shall at once receive our 
best consideration. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 

" Bev. Beewin Geant, B.A." John Howat, Publisher." 

In reply, a long friendly letter was written, pointing out some of 
the grosser accusations, as " orthodox liar for God," "malignant 
fierceness," &c, with the enquiry whether the Patriot was so 
accustomed to this coarseness of vituperation as to consider it a 
ligitimate exercise of its " courtesy and charity." The writer dis- 
tinctly stated that he was averse to legal proceedings, but was bound 
to defend his character in order to vindicate his testimony for the 
truth. 

The publisher answered as follows : — 

" Patriot Office, Nov. 4, 1862. 
" Deab Sib, — "We are of opinion that the article of which you complain does not 
exceed the limits of fair criticism upon your pamphlet, certainly it does not exceed 
the license which you have yourself taken. If we had dons you any injustice we 
should have most gladly made you reparation ; but we disclaim all intention of 
attacking your personal character. Our remarks were entirely confined to the 
style and spirit of your pamphlet. We shall, however, be quite willing to insert 
any letter from you, vindicating gour own motives, and disavowing personal 
jeeling, to which we will append an editorial note, disclaiming upon our part all 
intention (!) of imputing them, [i. e. " personal feeling "J to you. 

" Yours respectfully, 

" John Howat." 

It was to be a mutual disavowal. I was to say that I was not 
guilty of the motives attributed, and they were to say that no such 
motives had been attributed, since they never intended what they 
indited ! The publisher was therefore informed, November 5, that 
" his answer was unsatisfactory; " because it placed the person 
maligned " on a level with his traducer." The same post conveyed 
a legal communication requesting space for an answer, of the same 
length and prominence as the attack, in order to prevent further 
proceedings. 

This was replied to by the Patriot's solicitors, November 7, to 
the effect — that Mr. Grant had no ground for an action, and that if 
such were proceeded with they were instructed to appear on behalf 
of the publisher. 

This was answered by repeating the terms on which an action 
could be avoided, viz. : — the insertion of an answer, and an apology 
from the Patriot, to which, after convenient delay, the following 
H characteristic" compromise was offered : — 



180 

" November~17, 1862. 
" We have seen the Editor on the subject of your letter of the 12th instant. 
We still differ from you altogether in opinion as to the article complained of con- 
taining anything which would enable Mr. Grant to maintain ah action ; but as 
he seems sensitive on the subject, if it will be any satisfaction to him, and pre- 
vent litigation, the Editor is willing to, insert in the place and type usually 
devoted to correspondence any temperate letter from Mr. Grant in self -vindica- 
tion, the same being first submitted to the Editor (!) and the Editor 
will also insert in the same paper among the leading articles a few lines of 
which we enclose a copy. Our reason for mentioning that any letter from Mr. 
Grant should be first submitted to the Editor, is, that a former letter which 
Mr. Grant wished to insert, was, from its tone (!) open to fair objection. 
Whilst we trust that the acceptance of the above offer will terminate the matter, 
it must be distinctly understood that we do not on our client's behalf for a 
moment admit any liability, and the above suggestion is only thrown out in the 
hope of promoting peace" 

The Patriot's solicitors were informed in reply that the proposal 
constituted the offenders both judge and jury — that as Mr. Geant 
did not have the editorial strictures on his " spirit" submitted to his 
revision, his letter of defence must be inserted verbatim. 

The following is the Patriot's capitulation, through its solici- 
tous, November 26, 1862 : — 

" The Editor feels that the nature of the reply [sent for insertion as the 
ultimatum of the Rev. Brewin Geant] precludes his referring to it in the 
leading article in the terms which he had proposed. 

" He will not refuse, however, inserting the reply amongst the Correspondence, 
but then he must accompany it with a short article of which we send you a copy. 
On hearing from you that this will satisfy Mr. Grant, both the article and the 
reply can be inserted." 

The reason which " precluded the editor from referring to Mr. 
Orant's letter in the terms" previously offered was, that the 
editor's proposed statement contained these words : — "He [Mr. 
Grant] conceives that our strictures contained an attack upon his 
personal character : but we are quite at a loss to know how they 
can be so construed, and we certainly had no intention of imputing 
personal motives to Mr. Grant." This is abandoned as too bare- 
faced. Even the editor of the Patriot could not insert such a 
statement in the same paper with the vindicatory letter, which 
exposed so clearly the hypocrisy of disavowing what is so unblush- 
ingly perpetrated. 

The offer of the solicitors on behalf of the Patriot, to insert 
Mr. Grant's reply in its entirety, if that would "satisfy Mr. Grant," 
was accepted, on the ground that his only object was to justify his 
moral character against the accusatious of the Patriot. But it 
was required that a proof of Mr. Grant's letter should be for- 



181 

warded to him for correction ; also a proof of the proposed remarks 
of the editor for inspection and comparison with the original 
promise. 

The second editorial explanation, as sent by the Patriot's soli- 
citors, was as follows : — 

The Rev. Brewin Grant insists on his right to reply to the article in which 
■we recently [above a month before] criticised his Pamphlet, entitled "The 
Rescue of Faith ;" we have /rom the first declared our readiness to insert any 
temperate rejoinder, [this was another pure fabrication] but we were obliged to 
refuse insertion of one letter which he addressed to us, for reasons we have already 
stated; and we should have been quite justified in objecting to the letter which 
appears in our columns to-day upon similar grounds, but we prefer to admit it, 
rather than leave any pretence for saying that we have treated him unfairly. 
We are quite content to leave the matter as between Mr. Grant and ourselves to 
the good sense of our readers, contenting ourselves by repeating, in reply to Mr. 
Grant's insinuating to the contrary, that " of Mr. Grant personally we know 
nothing,'' and that we had neither the ability nor the wish to do more than 
criticise the spirit and style of the publication he had submitted to the attention 
of the religious community. 

Here the editor does not scruple to affirm that he " prefers to 
admit " the answer " rather than leave any pretence" for saying 
that he had treated me " unfairly." 

He knew that his only reason was to avoid an action for libel. 

When he " contents himself with repeating " "■ that of Mr. Grant 
personally we know nothing," he does not "repeat" but only 
alters the statement which he and the writers of the article knew to 
be false, namely, — " of Mr. Grant otherwise [than by the ' Eescue 
of Faith'] we know nothing." That first falsehood was written to 
hide the animus of the libel ; this second was to evade the first. In 
consequence of the representations of some that one of the protesters 
the Eev. Baldwin Brown, B.A., was the author of this libel, I — 
while believing him incapable of its malignity — told him what I had 
heard. In his reply, which seemed frank, that fatal phrase "of Mr. 
Grant otherwise we know nothing," was adroitly employed to show 
that he could not be the author of the article. At the time when 
he wrote me this demonstration I was not aware for certain that 
several hands were actually employed in it. 

But I now believe that the sentence in question was inserted for 
two weighty reasons : — first, that the article might not seem to be a 
revenge for the " Rivulet " defeat, which — like many another crime 
— was proved by the too eager and early denial ; and secondly, 
that each writer in turn might escape the charge of writing it, 
because the sentence in question would be a falsehood in any one of 
their mouths. Hence Mr. Brown wrote :— 



182 

" London, Nov. 17th. 
" My dear Sir,— I read the article in the Patriot when it appeared. 
The writer states that he * knows nothing of Mr. Brewin Grant,' or 
something to that effect. As I have known you well for twenty 
years, your previous question is substantially whether I am capable 
of writing and publishing a deliberate lie. I hope that I never by 
public or by private report laid myself open to that question, 

" And am, yours truly, 

"J. BALDWIN BROWN." 

It was not till afterwards that I learned the " whole teick." 

Each writer joining in the concoction of the article could say the 
same as Mr. Brown says ; and so could the writer of the fatal 
sentence, whether Binney, Hall, Beown or Allon. 

The editor knew that it would be false even from his pen ; and if 
they fetched some lad out of the printing office to write that line, the 
editor adopted it, and made it his own ; hence, seeing the inevitable 
ivord for it, he told " another," and altered it into — " of Mr. Grant 
personally we know nothing," which I am happy to say is true, 
though not written truthfully. 

At last the " proprietors " step in, and make the editor omit all 
reference to the tell-tale untruth, "of Mr. Geant otherwise we know 
nothing;" he is not even allowed to change " otherwise" into " per- 
sonally," but is forced to pass it by in silent humility, after having 
boggled at it with a fatal prevarication. 

Hence the concluding letter from the Patriot's solicitors to 
mine: — 

" London, December 2. 

" Deae Sie, — We now send the proofs [of Mr. Grant's vindicatory letter, 
and of a new Editorial article, instead of the one of which a copy had been sent 
before.] A slight alteration will be found in the Editor's article, but this the 
peopeietoes insist on. We shall be glad to receive back the proofs by return of 
post, that they may be printed in the next paper." 

The solicitors sent with the above note, this slightly altered thied 
attempt at an editorial article. 

" The Eev. Bee win Grant claims the right to reply to the strictures on his 
Pamphlet entitled the Eescue of Faith, which appeared in the Patriot several 
weeks ago. We have from the first expressed our willingness to insert any 
temperate rejoinder from that gentleman. [Their invention overpowers their 
memory.] But one letter we have rejected [did reject, October 30th, without 
any offer to admit a " temperate rejoinder"] for reasons which we stated at the 
time. The letter which appears in our columns to-day we should have been 
quite justified [but not quite safe] in rejecting on similar grounds, and also 
because it is an attempt to describe us as partisans of Mr. Godwin : [which they 



183 

are now ashamed of being.] This [that they are partisans of Mr. Godwin] is 
altogether a misrepresentation. Our readers know that we were the. first to point 
out the mischievious tendency of Mr. Godwin's views. [This was again 
altered into ' what we deem the mischievous tendency,' &c] We have however 
decided to insert Mr. Grant's letter rather than leave that gentleman any ground 
for complaint of unfairness : and we are quite content to leave the whole matter 
to the good sense of our readers." 

The whole affair — conceived in a style of pharisaical devoutness, 
to cover heresy ; of meekness and charity, to cover malice ; and of 
truth, to cover falsehood ; is consistently begun with falsifying the 
Rescue of Faith, and pretending ignorance of the author in order 
to conceal an old grudge against him, and it closes consistently — 
with the enormous joke of the editor — that when it would have 
been fair to reject a reply he admitted it, in order not to seem un- 
fair — though he knew that he was terrified, and crouched like a 
culprit before the majesty of the law, because no other consideration 
could inspire him with the sentiment of justice, and even this has 
only hardened him in rebellion against truth. 

Mr. Turberville, who thus made the Patriot illustrious, and 
conducted it to its decease, is now the editor of the so-called 
English Independent, named thus because the qualities called 
"English" and "Independent" do not belong to it. The same 
spirit rules it — the same clique gloats over its "Christian righ- 
teousness." 

Just above the "terms for advertisements" in the English 
Independent, we read this extravagant weekly puff: — 

" The English Independent is registered for transmission abroad." 

" The combination of two such well-established Journals as the Patriot and 
British Standard secures for the English Independent a large and influential 
circulation." 

After this " catchpenny appeal," would it be imagined that the 
Patriot exercised "a malignant fierceness" in denouncing the 
British Standard, which was carried on with so much vigour and 
honesty by Dr. Campbell till the time of his decease ? 

Nay, " The Rescue of Faith," which was so frantically maligned 
in the Patriot, was composed of a series of articles that had appeared 
in the British Standard, to which Mr. Turberville is now linked 
by the ceremony of a literary marriage. Yet, in his review of that 
" Rescue," aided by " the Fifteen," he thus condemns the organ 
that he now claims to have embraced: — "He (the writer of ' The 
Rescue of Faith ') may perhaps understand us when we say that in 
the world of secular literature, a great deal of it (the series of articles 



184 

from the British Standard) would be called blackguardism, and 
would be refused admission into any respectable Journal." — (Patriot, 
October 23, 1862.) 

In another part of the same article, the writers, who did not then 
anticipate " the combination of two such well-established journals," 
speak of my writing as " after the approved style of the periodical 
to which he contributes." 

But now the name of this very British Standard, which this editor 
affected so loftily to scorn, has become a respectable flag to sail 
under ! We may however still expect the same insolence and 
" Christian righteousness " as a reward for defending the righteous- 
ness of Christ ; the same prudence in excluding answers from those 
who are maligned and feared ; and the same readiness to submit on 
compulsion, — in order not " to leave any ground for complaint of 
unfairness ;" the same suppression of facts to keep its readers in 
ignorance ; as in giving a list of pamphlets on both sides of the Irish 
Church question, it carefully omitted the one by a person whose 
position on the subject was constantly and wilfully misrepresented 
in the English Independent, although his published statement— 
" Gladstone and Justice to Ireland," — was well known to the 
editor, who could not answer it, and did not wish his readers to 
know of it. Just as the advertisement of the title of the present 
work, which I sent with payment to Mr. Howat, the former Patriot 
and present English Independent publisher, was returned without 
a word of explanation. It is only by hoodwinking their readers that 
such papers maintain even the ricketty condition which precedes 
" combination." 

May it not be regarded as the completion of the reward inflicted 
by some literary Nemesis, that the editor of the Patriot should not 
only be forced to admit me into his columns — as in the next chapter 
— to correct his boldness, but should afterwards be reduced to 
shelter himself under the name of the very journal — the British 
Standard — to whose columns my " style " was so suitable, and 
whose prestige is Mr. Turberville's sheet anchor? If he had the 
courage, the openness, and real "Christian faith" of the late Dr. 
Campbell, of the British Standard, whom he attacked while living, 
and whose fame he would now appropriate, there would be no 

necessity for these exposures. 

- 



185 

Chapter XVIII. 

WHAT I SAID WHEN I GOT INTO THE PATRIOT OFFICE. 

THE VINDICATORY LETTER. 

" The Rescue of Faith" depended against the " Patriot" 
Article of October 23, 1862. 

(This letter was, through fear of the law, admitted in the Patriot, 
Dec. 11, seven weeks after the libel which it answers.) 

To the Editor of the Patriot. 

Sir, — During the Congregational Meetings I called by appoint- 
ment on the meekest gentleman in London, [the Rev. Samuel 
Martin, of Westminster,] with Mr. Godwin's lecture in my hand, 
having previously forwarded the rough proofs of the Rescue of 
Faith. He said, " Mr. Grant, I do not find that bitterness in this 
production which has been attributed to some of your writings." 
He enquired if I had fairly quoted Mr. Godwin. I offered to read 
any passage that he asked for. When I was reading some he said, 
" You horrify me ; if you had not read those passages I should 
have thought you were exaggerating." 

The proposition maintained in the Rescue of Faith is not, as 
you assume, that Mr. Godwin is not " courteous," nor that I am, 
but that Mr. Godwin is not evangelical. I do not find fault with 
him for, as you say, " but departing from accepted theological 
doctrine," though I am at liberty to criticise his " errors," but I may 
find fault with him for not departing from the College after " depart- 
ing from accepted theological doctrine" which he was engaged to 
teach. You defend his position by his " excellent personal cha- 
racter ; " but you point out in the next Patriot the " ambiguous 
morality" of clergymen who do the same ! You say, Oct. 30th, 
respecting the rumoured resignation of the Rev. F. D. Maurice,— 
4i He has at length seen what all unprejudiced lookers-on have 
long seen — the utter incompatibility of his theology ivith the 
formulas which he has pledged himself to maintain." " His 
character will no longer be compromised by the equivocal morality 
of his position.'" He "will be free now to maintain whatever 
opinions he may hold or arrive at, and ivhen we differ from him we 
shall have simply to combat the legitimate opinions of a free man, 
and not to condemn the ambiguous morality of an adherent of 
creeds which his teaching contradicts." " It is no pleasure to us to 
see any church torn by dissension or emasculated by heresy. We 
wish that we could congratulate the Church of England on Mr. 



186 

Maurice's example being followed by Professor Jowett and his co- 
essayists, and by Bishop Colenso." The "example" was mytho- 
logical ; these liberal and conscientious gentlemen will not escape 
from " the equivocal morality of their position" till Professor 
Godwin displays that " self-sacrificing spirit" which you recommend 
in vain to the clergy who are in a similar " position." But you 
make the " modesty of his assertions" and the " excellence of his 
personal character" defend his position, and you make their "posi- 
tion" damage and "compromise" their " character." 

You also turn from Mr. Godwin's " excellent personal character" 
to my " essential spirit of falsehood" and "malignant fierceness ! " 
You defend his heterodoxy by exalting his spirit, and denounce the 
Rescue of Faith by traducing mine. 

With a boasted " scrupulous regard to Christian righteousness 
and charity," you directly or by implication attribute to me " every 
offensive missile that the vocabulary of abuse and the genius of 
insinuation can furnish," ranking me with those who are " destitute 
of high Christian rectitude" — -"destitute of every intellectual 
faculty [which is a misfortune] that can constitute a literary critic, 
and of every moral quality [which is a sin] that should characterise 
a Christian one" I belong to those who use " unscrupulous argu- 
ment," write with "unscrupulous pens" in the " unscrupulous 
advocacy of truth," like one of its "unscrupulous friends" — dealing 
in " coarseness," "vulgarity," " clap-trap," "blackguardism," and 
"catchpenny appeals," with a " personal vindictiveness," " a gloating 
eagerness and malignant fierceness" writing in the "essential spirit 
of falsehood," coming "with a Rescue of Faith" to join the " Or- 
thodox liars for God." 

Suppose I am all this, it does not prove that Mr. Godwin is 
evangelical : suppose I am not — what are you ? 

Your article stated — il Of Mr. Grant otherwise [than by the 
Rescue of Faith] we know nothing." Why was this stated? 
Was the writer conscious that he would naturally be credited with 
some other motive for his accusations ? Had he never heard of 
li What \s it all About?" How came he, in such ignorance of me, 
to refer to my " college course ;" to " believe" I was a student 
under Mr. Godwin, and to reason on that circumstance ? Can you 
account for the insertion of this sentence — " Of Mr. Grant otherwise 
we know nothing" ? It is significant and suspicious. 

If it be proved, after all, that this writer had the Rivulet Con- 
troversy to " relieve his soul" of, and perhaps some more recent 
event, the indelible fiction of his ignorance, assumed to seem impar- 



187 

tial, will form a sad mark on his forehead. There are many cir- 
cumstances which I have not space, if I had permission, to enter 
into in this ; for the present, and in the Patriot, I content myself 
with the leading points, and particularly with asserting that a more 
painstaking criticism, or one freer from every taint of ill-feeling, or 
dictated with a deeper desire to serve the truth of the Gospel, 
and defend the honour of our Saviouk, was never issued from the 
press. 

Even you neither deny its positions nor controvert its arguments : 
" on Mr. Grant's arguments and analysis we cannot spend a line." 
This is a fatal omission and an honest admission. 

You go further, and confess that you had no legitimate purpose 
to serve in the way of correcting any false impressions I might have 
made, — saying that if there are any persons who attach any weight 
to what I say you do not care to address them. Then, what did 
you write for ? 

You mention Mr. Hinton's name, and beg his pardon for intro- 
ducing it in this connection : why did you not strike it out when 
you saw the impropriety ? Everybody acknowledges, and none more 
honestly than Mr. Godwin and his advisers and the Patriot, that 
Mr. Hinton's " Strictures" and the " Rescue" are not to be 
mentioned on the same day. Mr. Hinton calls Mr. Godwin's 
theology a " soul- destroying leaven," and his arguments a " trick 
of legerdemain ;" and you say Mr. Hinton is " courteous." 

It is no compliment in controversy to be praised by the other 
side : I should suspect it, or else myself. " The kisses of an 
enemy are deceitful." 

You treat me " in a very different spirit:" but your accusations 
of me are as groundless as your praise of Mr. Godwin is irrelevant. 
Eor instance — I prove that he is not orthodox ; you reply that he is 
" courteous :" I show that he denies the atonement ; you say that 
this is " blackguardism." I show that he ignores the inspiration of 
Paul ; you reply that he is " devout." I prove that he sets aside 
the Holy Spirit's personality and work ; you answer that he has 
* spiritual goodness." I prove that he represents our Lord's death 
as only a model death; you inform me that I am an " orthodox liar 
for God." I show the fatal danger of upholding such a professor; 
you assure me that I have " a nature as incapable of gratitude and 
delicacy as of courtesy and charity." So to the irrelevance of 
accusing me, yoTj. add the peculiar "delicacy" of reproaching me for 
a natural calamity. Even our street ruffians now-a-days do not mock 
the blind. Natural incapacity is respected and pitied. But you accuse 



188 

me of wanting " every intellectual faculty," and reproach me for 
not having that " gratitude and delicacy" which you are graciously 
enabled to display, and which you acknowledge me to be " naturally: 
incapable" of! This exonerates me, and implicates you, if you 
understood what you said, and it exposes you if you did not. 

In a correspondence, the nature of which you know, your pub- 
lisher said for himself and you,— " we disclaim all intention,: of 
attacking jour personal character; our remarks were confined to the 
spirit of your pamphlet." This "spirit" of a thing is the most 
indefinite and imaginary object in the world ; it is the refuge of the 
destitute and the resort of the weak. 

The Patriot publisher adds : — " We, however, shall be willing to 
insert any letter from you, vindicating your own motives, and dis- 
avowing personal feeling ; to which we will append an editorial note 
disclaiming on our part all intention of imputing them [i.e. personal 
feeling] to you." 

Why should I " defend my own motives," if they are not 
attacked ? How can you " disclaim all intention of imputing per- 
sonal feeling," when you directly charge me with " personal 
vindictiveness," " gloating eagerness and malignant fierceness ?" I 
leave these things to your own conscience. If I were in your 
case, which I never was, I should retract what I said, instead of 
saying — that I never said it, or did not mean it. 

The most " discreditable" part of your attack is the effort to 
bring all the odium which you heap on me, to injure my " church 
and schools:" from which you omitted the " church," so leaving 
the impression that you only wanted to prevent me obtaining sub- 
scriptions to some private enterprise. " The catch-penny appeal" 
for " Mr. Grant's schools" was, you know, what we call a " Chapel 
case." 

This affects only one of our churches, and that in a pecuniary 
point of view, but the theological and moral sentiments which 
you endorse and utter threaten the foundation o/all our Churches, 
and contradict the first principles of common honesty. Thus, 
defending a college professor, you say, "It is of more importance 
that [such] a man should himself be true [to what ?] than that he 
should utter true things." This is like saying that it is of more 
importance that a dispenser of medicine should himself be true 
than that he should avoid giving strychnine instead of quinine ! 

Of a theological professor you say : — " Whatever his theological 
errors may be, he [like Maurice] uniformly impresses his students 
with his spiritual goodness." He " but departs from accepted 



189 

theological doctrine," which he is engaged to teach: in this case 
there is no " equivocal morality :" he only gives up the Gospel and 
keeps his situation — that is all ! 

He has personal qualities of more importance than "uttering 
tkue things." So they say with whom " true things" must be at 
a discount. 

You — without knowing anything of me " otherwise 1 ' 1 than by this 
pamphlet — accuse me of ingratitude to Mr. Godwin as my former 
tutor ; but if I teach him the truth which he should have taught me, 
do \ I not discharge the obligation? "Am I therefore become 
your enemy because I tell you the truth ?" 

If it is not the truth, answer my arguments ; if it is the truth, 
"relieve your soul" by giving God thanks for enabling one — whom 
you acknowledge to be destitute of " every intellectual faculty" — 
to vindicate the cross of Christ : that when men are silent — out of 
the mouth of babes and sucklings He hath perfected praise : ever 
doing the greatest works by the humblest agents, and by the things 
that are not, bringing to nought things that are. 

Yours very truly, 

BKEWIN GEANT. 
I ; 



Chaper XIX. 

THE ATHEIST AND THE PATRIOT : 

The New Evangelical Alliance : or, how the Editor tried 
to get out of it. 

The Protestors having experienced Mr. Godwin's highest form of 
religion — " the service of suffering," in their protracted terror, and 
being forced at last into what "they feared," sought consolation 
not in a text of scripture, nor in the testimony of a good conscience, 
but in the testimony of an atheist, which served at once for conso- 
lation and retaliation. 

Thus the climax of dishonour was reached by the Patriot, when after 
agreeing by its solicitors what observations it would make on the insertion of my 
defensive letter, the editor, on the 11th of December, followed the vindication — 
which he was forced by the fear of the law to insert — with this elegant paragraph : 
— ' A letter now lies before us bearing the signature Atheos, and written with 
manifest sincerity and earnestness, in which the writer affirms that he was con- 
verted from Christianity, of which he was an earnest, prayerful professor, to 
atheism, which, with his wife and children, he now professes, by listening to the 
discussion which took place in Cowper-street Rooms, some years ago, between 
Mr. BuEwiN G-eant and Mr. Holtoake.' 



190 

On seeing; this I wrote to the editor, saying : — xt Will you oblige 
me with the original and history of the letter which you say lay 
before you from ' Atheos :' will you tell me who he is and where 
he lives ?" In reply Mr. Tueberville sent me an alleged copy of 
the letter, but omitted the address, which he said " was not for 
publication." Now I did not want it for publication, but for 
investigation, and should have gone up to London and personally 
tested the hoax ; but Mr. Turberville knew better, and so wrote 
as follows :— 

The Patriot Office, Bolt Court, &c, Dec. 16, 1862. 

The editor of the Patriot complies with the Eev. Bbewin Gbant's request 
to be furnished with a copy of the letter of " Atheos." The name and addeess 
of the writer are appended to the original, but " not foe publication." k 
personal interview has confirmed the impression given by the letter itself —that 
the writer is a sincere and earnest man. 

Mr. Turberville had quite a sweet season with this "earnest" 
saint, but would rather not permit me to enjoy the same spiritual 
communion. " Not for publication !" — the writer was the most 
modest of his sect. The fact is, the whole was a fabrication. 

I printed and circulated through two subsequent congregational 
union meetings in Sheffield and Manchester a pamphlet — " The 
Eev. Isaac Vaughan ; a Memorial," on the 37th page of which 
was stated in capitals, " I knew that no such man [as the alleged 
atheist] existed." 

Nor could any honest man pretend to believe the atheistic letter. 
I do not give this as a reason for saying that Mr. Turberville did 
not believe it : that proposition is proved by the fact that he knew 
better than to tell me where the man lived. 

I published at the time a declaration that it was an " impudent 
hoax ;" and whether it was written by an atheist belonging to the 
Patriot, or by some one not on the staff, " the earnest and sincere 
man" would — if he could have been found — have gone through the 
small sieve. Since Mr. Turberville is still an editor of the " acknow- 
ledged representative of the Congregationalists" — doing" Christian- 
righteousness" under the friendly auspices of Messrs. Binney, 
Allon and Company Limited to " Fifteen" — that the world may 
know that an alliance of spiritual men with atheists was not first 
invented in the Irish Church agitation, and, that it may be known 
to what desperate and immoral expedients the present leaders of the 
age have lent themselves in defence of heresy, to put down fidelity 
by calumny — no matter out of what place fished up — I will give 
this atheist's letter, which so entranced the patriotic band; ox 



191 

rather I will give that alleged copy of it which Mr. Tuebeeville 
sent to me with his note already quoted. 

AN ATHEIST'S TESTIMONIAL TO THE EDITOR OF THE PATRIOT. 
(Copt.) November 10, 1862. 

To the Editor of the Patriot. 

Dear Sir. — As one of Brewin Grant's converts from Christianity to Secularism 
allow me a few brief moments. 

An article in the Patriot of the 23rd ult., containing criticisms upon Brewin 
Grant's Rescue of Faith (?) has just been read by me. The critique contains 
so much good sense, and is written in such an unusual spirit of fairness for a, 
Christian journal, that I feel a pleasurable duty in acknowledging the same, 
as also to endorse your estimate of the firebrand known as the Rev. Brewin 
Grant. 

My first introduction to the " pious mountebank" was during the debate 
between him and Mr. G. J. Holtoake, in Cowper-street Boom. I had not seen 
either of the disputants prior to that, to me, memorable debate, nor had I read 
a line of their writings. 

At the invitation of one of Mr. Holyoake's disciples I consented to be pre- 
sent during several nights' discussion. 

As an earnest, prayerful Christian, many years a Sunday-school scholar 
Sbndteacher, a consistent member of a Christian church, seeking (!)to know 
the truth, I went/ree from prejudice against the teacher of heretical and un- 
popular truths to hear both sides of important questions. 

During the first evening's debate Brewin Grant, the Christian teacher, 
Christ's faithful servant, evinced such intense " personal vindictiveness" [quoted 
from the Patriot!'} and such "malignant fierceness" [quoted from the 
Patriot ! ] against his opponent, accompanied with such " gloating eagerness," 
[quoted from the Patriot /] to crush his opponent — facts that unmistakably 
indicated him to be of "a nature utterly incapable of delicacy, courtesy, or 
charity" — [the Patriot still !] — he showed himself to be the very " genius of 
insinuation" — [Patriot again] — and more than a match for any clown for ' pious 
ribaldry.' Having said this much, I trust that my subsequent objections to 
the cause he advocates may not be considered entirely as the result of my 
objection to the advocate. I was present every evening during the debate, and 
purchased the published report of it ; and the result has been a gradual growth 
out of and away from Christianity to atheism. 

I have been an atheist for six years. My wife is now an atheist, and so my 
children will be atheists ; my brother is novo an atheist, and so will be his 
children. Of course while life lasts my earnest efforts will be for the spread 
of those truths which for [six] years have sustained me, and loill (!) sustain me 
through life, and I doubt not will (!) also sustain me in death. — Yours sincerely, 

ATHEOS. 
Now first, is there any reason why a man who intended this to 
be published, and really believed these glorious " truths,'" should 
send his name " not for publication ?" Would this te modesty, 
or would it be natural " secular" prudence, as the only defence 
against detection ? 



192 

Secondly, he flatters the editor by telling him to his face that it 
was very unusual for a ''Christian journal" like the Patriot to 
show "good sense" and "fairness;" in fact he accuses Mr. 
Turberville of having been for once blessed with a lucid moment, 
a fit of sense and honesty so remarkable and " unusual" that it 
did the "sincere and earnest man's" heart good, and made it his 
" pleasurable duty" to recognize the same. This dose of flattery 
—for I believe poor Mr. Turberville mistook it for a compliment, 
as to the unusualness oi his honesty or " good sense" and "fairness" 
—made the subsequent courtesy towards me all the more charming. 

Thirdly, I do not see that the atheist adds to what the editor 
and his coadjutors before wrote of me, beyond the terms " fire- 
brand," "pious mountebank," and "Christ's faithful servant," 
which these writers had omitted to utter before. The other com- 
pliments are only repetitions. I hope I shall always deserve the 
last of these nicknames, " Christ's faithful servant," and then 
I shall never secure the approbation of atheists, as Messrs. 
Tueberville, Binney, Allon, and Co., did. 

Fourthly, the writer is extremely specific as to his want of pre- 
judice against Mr. Holyoake and his " unpopular truths," and as 
to his associations with that class : but he omitted saying in what 
Sunday school he taught, and of what chuech he had been a 
member. This would have given a clue, but Mr. Turberville 
kept the name and address — "not for publication." For "the 
children of this world are wiser in their generation than the chil- 
dren of light." 

Fifthly, " Atheos" himself was almost afraid that even Mr. 
Tuebeeville would see the hoax of an " eaenest, prayerful 
Christian," " a consistent member of a Christian church," giving 
up his Saviour because my style of advocacy was not satisfactory ! 
Why did not Mr. Turberville's " unusual" " Christian righteous- 
ness" win the wanderer back ? If the man had said that he turned 
against me because I was disagreeable I could have forgiven his 
logic and pitied his taste ; but when a " prayerful Christian" and 
" earnest" to boot says that he gave up his Redeemer on that 
account — Credat Judceus ? — Tell it to the marines, or to "the 
Fifteen !" " Atheos" tries to bridge over this chasm, thinking that 
it might make even the Patriot editor wake up, so he covers it with 
this odd apology : — " I trust that my subsequent objections to the 
cause he advocates may not be considered entirely as the result of 
my objection to the advocate." Which of the " Protesters" cobbled 
this sentence ? Whoever could imagine that his "subsequent objec- 



193 

tions to the cause" resulted "entirely" from his previous " objection 
to the advocate ?" 

Sixthly, he makes as great a chasm in chronological order as in 
logical sequence; for he directly adds — "I have been an atheist 
six years." This was really "subsequent" to the Cowper-street 
debate, for that occurred in January, 1853, and this atheist writes 
in November, 1862 — ten years after the debate, " six " of which 
he had been an atheist, four years too late to be converted by 
"listening " to that discussion. Perhaps he had long ears. 

Yet Mr. Turberville, in his note in the Patriot, said — "A letter 
now lies before us," " in which the writer affirms that he was 
converted from Christianity" " to Atheism," "by listening to the 
discussion which took place in Cowper-street," " between Mr. 
Brewin Grant and Mr. Holyoake." The "letter lies before us," 
and he could have added, truly — " we lie behind it." 

This is Christian journalism — to bring in an atheist or manu- 
facture one, in order to traduce the most useful and important 
labour in which popular infidelity from being rampant became 
silent, and to introduce this clumsy falsehood in revenge for another 
defence of truth, not against open but masked and consecrated 
infidelity ! 

- All this was done under the very eyes of "the Fifteen " advocates 
of " a scrupulous regard to Christian righteousness;" and but for 
Dr. Campbell's paper, the British Standard, which does not now 
exist, nor is there anything in its place, the only reward I should 
have received, would have been the " courtesy " of these liberal 
theologians, who at the very time, when by force of law they are 
doing penance for a libel, by inserting my defence, also insert this 
tale of conversion to infidelity, as founded on a letter of an anony- 
mous and impossible atheist, and whose letter, as copied by Mr. 
Turberville, contradicts what he asserted out of it. 

A parallel cannot be found in all the annals of " Christian 
righteousness." 

It is doubtless humiliating to be in any way associated with such 
transactions, even though but as the innocent occasion of driving 
these patriotic Christians into such desperate shifts, evasions, and 
inventions. In fact, I felt at the time half guilty of the cowardice, 
prevarication, submission, and revenge into which I had forced the 
protesting conspirators and their organ ; and if by this present time 
I have, in the exercise of meekness and charity, forgiven myself, 
I, have no reason for accusing them of the like vacillation of feeling. 
For much as they are enamoured of Christian courtesy and charity, 



i 



194 

they will not suffer these " to overpower their sense of righteous- 
ness," or to allure them from the life-long and impossible task of 
speaking the unspeakable, as they labour for methods of " express- 
ing in the strongest language of which they are capable, their unutter- 
able dislike and disgust at such criticisms as Mr. Brewin Grant has 
thought proper to indulge in;" and which, from the inability of 
the protesters and their allies to answer, provoked them to betray 
themselves beyond all that either law or gospel would permit. 



Chapter XX. 

WHAT IS THE CONGBEGATIONAL UNION, ITS PRO-- 

FESSED CONSTITUTION AND OBJECTS ? 

The name " Independents," lately almost superseded by that of 
" Congregationalists," as less obviously satirical, was adopted to 
express the disavowal of all authority external to any single society 
of professing Christians meeting for worship in one place. In 
recent times three forms of usurpation or external authority have 
sprung up, in the shape of " the Sister Churches," in any town and 
immediate neighbourhood, the wider circle of some County Asso- 
ciation, and the more ambitious conglomeration called the Congre- 
gational Union. None of these are " Courts of Appeal" : they 
only inflict advice, and sometimes make it as disagreeable to refuse 
it as to take it. 

According to our theory, union with the " Sister Churches" in a 
town, or with the Association in a County, or with the Congrega- 
tional Union, is purely voluntary. At present non-union with the 
two first is a peculiarity, and involves a bad mark and possible 
penalty. 

The Congregational Union meetings are held in May and autumn 
of each year. " The constitution of the Congregational Union of 
England and Wales" was ''revised by the seventeenth annual assem- 
bly, May, 1847." (Year Book, 1850, p. 12.) The composition of the 
Union, revised as aforesaid and still in substance adhered to, is 
thus described : — 

I. — That the Union of Congregational Churches and Ministers throughout 
England and Wales is founded on a full recognition of their own distinctive 
principle, namely, the scriptural right of every separate church to maintain per- 
fect independence in the government and administration of its own particular 
affairs ; and therefore that the Union shall not, in any case, assume legislative 
authority, or hecome a court of appeal. 



195 

II. — That this Union shall consist of Associations of Congregational Churches 
and of individual churches severally adhering to the Union. The qualification 
of a church for membership in this Union shall be connexion with an Associa- 
tion ; or, where no Association is accessible, recommendation by the three 
ministers, already in the Union, residing nearest to the applicant church. Every 
Church connected with this Union shall make an annual contribution to its funds ; 
neglect of which, for two successive years, shall forfeit membership. The tutors 
of the Theological Colleges of the Independents, and the officers of their general 
public societies, being members of Congregational churches, also ministers and 
deacons in fellowship with churches eligible for connexion with the Union, may 
become personal members of the Union by payment of an annual subscription of 
not less than five shillings. 

The Congregational Union is in fact, as lately described to me 
by one of our college professors, a voluntary " five-shilling club ;" 
that being the price of personal membership: a church pays ten 
shillings ; but this admits its pastor free, and one representative for 
every hundred church members. My own church, Cemetery-road, 
Sheffield, was admitted into the Congregational Union for ten shil- 
lings, just before the assembling of the ministers and delegates in 
Sheffield, in 1866. On the same occasion, and for the same price, 
the late Rev. Isaac Yaughan's Chuech, Rotherham, though at the 
time not " recognized" by the " sister churches" and the County 
Association, was also received into the Congregational Union. It is 
however but fair to note that one object was, to secure "beds" 
for the deputations among the families of the two respective congre- 
gations. Every statement of the " Constitution of the Congregational 
Union" declares " that the union shall not in any case assume 
legislative authority, or become a court of appeal." In fact it has 
no power constitutionally, and all exercise of power is usurpation, 
even if authorised by the Assembly of Pastors and Delegates, and 
much more so when surreptitiously assumed by the committee. The 
Union can decide, like any club, as to who shall be its future mem- 
bers, and what shall be the price of admission ; but it cannot, 
without the grossest imposition, pretend to prescribe the boundary 
of the denomination: when it pretends to this it legislates, which 
is contrary to its express " constitution." When it undertook the 
guardianship of the general list of ministers it ought to have pre- 
served it sacredly, and cannot without a libel publish as a sort of 
denominational document a list of ministers, leaving out those long 
on it at mere ignorant caprice or baser malice. It has no authority 
to exclude and depose. 

Of the seven " objects" of the Congregational Union the first is 
" to promote evangelical religion in connection with the Inde^ 
pendent denomination." But the practice is to watch over 



"evangelical religion," or rather to lament any departure from it in 
the Church of England, and to screen the departure from it among 
ourselves. 

The seventh and last " object" of this Union is " to assist in 
maintaining and enlarging the civil rights of Protestant Dissenters :" 
but the practice is to extinguish those rights in dissenting ministers, 
while claiming them from the State. 

The Congregational Union does not comprise in its membership a 

THIRD OF THE MINISTERS Or a TENTH OF THE CHURCHES. It is the 

E.U.C. of Congregationalism, though it goes beyond that English 
Church Union in usurping the domination which its "constitution" 
repudiates. In its Year Book for 1869, " Pastors and Churches," 
enumerated as subscribers "to the Union " (p. 83), are a hundred 
and ninety out of two thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine (p. 
400), English and Welsh Churches. This leaves two thousand six 
hundred and seventy churches not connected with the Union. 
Besides this number of " churches and pastors," there are six 
hundred and forty- eight five -shillings "personal members," of whom 
a hundred and fifty are laymen ; leaving four hundred and ninety 
ministers — besides those of the churches named — members of the 
Congregational Union, out of two thousand three hundred and eight 
" ministers and missionaries" in England and Wales (p. 400). This 
leaves sixteen hundred and twenty-eight ministers and mission- 
aries outside the Union, to six hundred and eighty in all who are 
members of it. Nor must it be imagined that the members are 
permanent, but those who desire to attend the next Union meet- 
ings send their annual five shillings soon enough to be enrolled as 
members for the occasion, and to secure board and lodgings gratis 
during the sittings of the Assembly. 

This is enough respecting the constitution and composition of the 
Union, to enable the reader to understand its proceedings in the 
matters to be referred to. 

" The Year Book," containing statistics of the denomination, as 
well as the minutes of the Congregational Union, is "prepared" 
" under the direction " of "the Committee of the Congregational 
Union ;" and besides a list of the members of that body, and lists 
of local associations, as well as ministers in the districts of these 
associations but not members of the local unions, it contains ah 
alphabetical list of " accredited congregational ministers" in Eng- 
land, Wales, Scotland, &c. There are certain prescribed and 
customary methods by which names are put upon this general list, 
which is arranged in alphabetical order, and is not affected by the 



locality in which the ministers thus recorded reside. There is- no 
rule by which the Union can remove ministers from this list. To 
remove a name from this list would be to degrade the person from 
status of an " accredited Congregational minister," and is the same 
in effect or intention and tendency as depriving a clergyman of 
holy orders. It is true that any churches might choose or cling to 
such minister, but if at the time of his " professional decapitation " 
he should be " without pastoral charge," it would go hard with him 
in attempting to secure " a settlement," especially as the officials 
who may perform the act would be diligent in disparaging him in 
order to justify themselves : and secret calumny is an arrow that 
flieth in darkness, and cannot well be guarded against. If any 
should aid the excommunicated pastor they would be a mark for 
the same shaft, but this is a danger to which few Independents 
expose themselves. I know only one. 
.floiaU 





moiv 

ei* Chapter XXI. 

THE ABSOLUTISM OF UNION OFFICIALS, AND THE 

POWER OF ARBITRARY MINISTERIAL DECAPITATION. 

Official Correspondence, 1866. 
? ■ '. •" 

j An instance of this kind of excommunication, in which I defended 
the victim and paid the penalty, will amaze if it does not amuse 
those simple souls who think that the leaders of Independency are 
friends of independence. The late Rev. Isaac Vaughan, of Masbro' 
Chapel, whose name to the end of his life was in "the West-Riding 
Congregational Register," and who was on the committee of the 
Rotherham College, had this added to some other troubles, under 
the combined weight of which he sunk, — that between a professor 
of the college, and the Year-book editor, his name was secretly 
erased from the list of accredited congregational ministers. 

Though his decease occurred soon after this, I felt that in 
vindication of his memory, and of the principles of our denomina- 
tion, some enquiry into summary private despotism was required. 

I first applied to the immediate officials, the editor of the Year 
Book, and the district secretaries from whom, as to new names, 
he should receive information ; and those new names alone are 
specifically regulated for. 



198 

To THE EDITOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL YEAR BOOK. 

July 20th, 1866. 

Dear Sir, — I should be greatly obliged if you could inform me how it happened 
that the name of the Kev. Isaac Vaughan was removed from the list of 
Congregational Ministers in the last Year Book. 

As you are the editor, I take the liberty of enquiring from you on what grounds 
and by whose arrangement the omission was made. I see at the beginning of 
the list your rules for adding names ; what I wish to learn is the authority and 
process of removing them. 

It could not be accidental, because it is too systematic. When his church at 
Masbro' was reported "vacant," he should have been mentioned amongst the 
' removals" as a matter of course : and this I suppose the editor would have 
attended to, as in all other cases, if he had not received directions to the con- 
trary. I buried Mr. Vaughan last Friday. Yours respectfully, 

BREWIN GRANT. 

The answer to this enquiry is a rare specimen of quietly putting 
a man out of the way : — 

Congregational Union oe England and Wales, 

18, South Street, Finsbury, E.C., July 30th, 1866. 

My dear Sir, — The authority applies equally to admission or omission. This 
is all I can say on the matter. As the "good man" has gone, I trust to a 
blessed home, it is desirable that all reference to the past should drop. 

Revd. B. Grant. Yours truly, Robert Ashton. 

To this I replied from — 

Blackpool, August 2nd, 1866. 

Dear Sir, — If a man may be "put away privily" — guillotined in the dark, by 
the arbitrary will of unknown persons, who employ an editor as an instrument, 
and -who are in turn screened by his "discretionary silence" — let us hide our 
heads in shame and say no more about our boasted Independent principles. 

I am told "the authority applies equally to admission or omission," that is, 
as the names are added to our list, by the recommendation of a college tutor or 
a district secretary, or two neighbouring ministers, so any college tutor, district 
secretary, &c, may of their own mere motion, direct you to erase any name 
from the list of Congregational ministers ! 

The thing is incredible and monstrous. Nor do you tell where the rule is to 
be found. 

Yousay, "the 'good mart has, you trust, gone to a blessed home." I trust you 
meant the phrase sincerely and not contemptuously ; and if so, you are con- 
demned out of your own mouth in haying treated him as a bad man. 

Pardon me if 1 resent the slighting and doubtful tone of " trust," in which you 
dismiss so estimable a man, whom you have helped to wrong. 

Because the " good man " has gone, " as you trust to a blessed home," you 
say " it is desirable that all reference to the past should drop." This is exceed- 
ingly inconsequential, and it could be said by any one who had helped a " good 
man" "home," prematurely, which I am sure his persecutors did. 

It should be needless to remind you that you have not answered my question, — - 
by what rule and, at whose suggestion, you struck off this revered name from 
the list of accredited congregational ministers. You assert what is impossible 



199 

and contradictory, that " the same authority " adds or removes these names ; by 
which rule one tutor could add and another could remove the same name ; so it 
would be on and off at the same time. 

You are responsible to the entire denomination and the Christian public, not to 
mention higher relationships, which cannot be escaped by saying " this is all I 
can say on the matter." You can say more ; and it is neither " desirable" nor 
possible, that " all reference to the past should drop." 

Yours faithfully, Bkewin Geant. 

The Eev. Eobert Ashton, Editor of the Congregational Year Book. 

No answer was vouchsafed to this, the editor being in his 
impregnable irresponsible position. 

The following was addressed to the Kev. F. J. Falding, D.D. — 

"July 29, 1866. 

" Dear Sie, — When I enquired why Mr. Vaughan's name was removed from 
the list of ministers in the Year Book, and why it does not appear in the list of 
" removals," though Masbro' is reported "vacant," I have been told that the 
district secretary makes out the lists ; so it is put down to you, as secretary of 
this district. I should be obliged if you would inform me as to the truth on this 
matter. " Yours faithfully, Beewin Geant." . 

In answer, I received this letter — 

"Kotherham College, August 2, 1866. 
" Deae Sie, — I will give you any information which you can require on the 
subject of your note if you will call on me, but I decline to enter into any corre- 
spondence about it. To prevent any unnecessary trouble or delay, inform me 
when I may expect the favour of a call, and I will be at home to see you at the 
time you appoint, or let you know if I cannot be. 

"I am. dear Sir, yours truly, 
" Kev. B. Grant, B.A., Sheffield." " F. J. Falding." 

In answer I wrote as follows — ■ 

" Sheffield, August 4, 1866. 

"Dear Sie, — I returned home late last evening, and so was unable to 
acknowledge sooner the receipt of a letter in which you intimate that you have 
" any information which I can require on the subject of my note, but decline " to 
put it in "writing. As the transaction to which I refer was a public act, though 
privately suggested, I seek only such information as can be honestly laid before 
the public, and such as any member of our denomination would have a right to 
expect from the officials concerned. 

" Supposing you to be clear in the matter, I see no difficulty in the way of 
your disavowing all share in so grave an act of injustice and indignity. 

" The interview for which you give me an opportunity could answer no useful 
end, unless I could publish the information you can afford ; but as you seem to 
desire secrecy, of which there has been too much already, I decline to enter into 
any conversation in a matter of public justice, which may not be proclaimed on 
the house tops. " Yours very truly, Beewin Geant." 

" The Kev. F. J. Falding, D.D." 



200 

The secretary of the West Biding Association, in which the 
Sheffield and Masbro' district is included, could afford to be explicit. 
He therefore wrote in reply as follows : — 

"Moorville, Beeston Hill, Leeds, August 8, 1866. 

" My deae Mr. Grant, — Yours from Blackpool reached me this morning, 
and according to your request I reply to it by the first post. I am only one of 
six. persons upon whom the duty is devolved annually, by the Bev. B. Ashton, of 
revising the list of West Biding ministers ; the others are the secretaries of the 
district. If you are so fortunate as to be a peruser of the " West Biding Congre- 
gational Begister," for the contents of which I am directly responsible, youmay find 
Mr. Yaughan's name in the last list of the " Congregational ministers of the West 
Biding," which was published only a few weeks ago. Officially I never do any- 
thing which I am not instructed to do by my committee, and I never received 
any" instructions respecting Mr. Vaughan from that body. 
With best regards, I am, yours truly, 

Bev. B. Grant, B.A. JAMES HUGHES MOBGAN. 

Before writing to the secretary of the Union, I had circulated 
by post " The Bev. Isaac Vaughan, a Memorial, with Beflections 
on the Necessity for Independence among the People called Indepen- 
dents, in order to work out their Church Principles." 

In reply to a copy of this, I received the following emphatic 
testimony from the Bev. Joseph Paekek, Manchester : — 

(The Italics or Small Capitals in this letter are not the writer's.) 

Old Trafford, Sept. 12th, 1866. 

My dear Sir, — I received your pamphlet, for which I beg to thank you. I 
have read it with deep and mingled interest, for I knew Mr. Yaughan thirteen or 
fourteen years ago, and respected him very highly. Of his latter life I have 
not known anything except what has appeared occasionally respecting his public 
services in the newspapers. I feel that surely you must have missed a link in 
your painful narrative ; it seems to me utterly impossible that for the reasons 
you have assigned, or rather the facts you have stated, that his name could 
nave been omitted from the " Congregational Year Book." Are you quite sure 
that no link has escaped your attention ? Here and there I feel as if a point 
had been kept back from you, and a knowledge of which would have altered the 
complexion of the whole case, Have you no reason to think that this is so ? If 
not, I must pronounce the case one of extraordinary and indeed of inexcusable 
severity. If this kind op thing is to be tolerated, then no man's name 
is safe ; your name, or mine, or the name of any other brother may disappear 
without the slightest reason being assigned to us for its omission.* The 

THING REALLY OUGHT TO BE LOOKED INTO ; and IF NO SUFFICIENT REASON 

be forthcoming for the omission of Mr. Yaughan's name, then men who lay 
any claim to self-respect ought to withdraw their names from the list of 
" accredited Independent Ministers,"! and by a quiet earnest protest show that 
while they cannot cure an evil, yet they will do their utmost to bring it into dis- 
favour. I am quite anxious about the case. If anything further should turn 

* Dr. Parker was a prophet here, so far as my name is concerned, f But will he or any 
others who " lay claim to self-respect" speak out ? Will he " withdraw" his " name ?'' 



201 

up to cast light upon any phase of it do let me know, for I feel that the 

HONOUR AND INTEGRITY OF BRITISH CONGREGATIONALISM ARE ON THEIR TRIAL. 

With repeated thanks for your pamphlet, and with an earnest hope that you 
have overlooked some important fact, I am most truly yours, 

JOSEPH PARKER. 

Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., Sheffield. 

Sheffield, Sept. 13th, 1866. 

My dear Sir, — The missing links which you require should have been supplied 
hy the Rev. Robert Ashton, the editor of the Congregational Year Book, or by the 
secretary of the district (Dr. Falding). 

You consider it " impossible" that, merely on account of " the facts" I have 
stated, " his name could have been omitted from the Congregational Year Book." 
You will observe that I have not attempted to give either " reasons" or "facts" 
to account for that erasure, but have simply inquired — of those who ought to 
answer — what those reasons and facts were : " on what grounds and by whose 
arrangement the omission was made?" 

All the facts in the world — whether manufactured after the victim is dead or 
not — will never justify expulsion without notice or trial, any more than a police- 
man can hang a prisoner whether guilty or not. 

You have no alternative but to lift up your voice for the "integrity and honour 
of British Congregationalism," which you say " are on their trial." 

How can we utter protests against tyranny, corruption, and patronage in other 
sections, when these things are permitted in our own? 

Be good enough to observe that all the positions I assume are independent 
of ant view of Mr. Vaughan's character; the process of treatment by the 
Year Book managers was utterly illegal, arbitrary, and tyrannical ; for a man 
has a right even to' be hung constitutionally. Therefore, no new facts would, 
serve your turn, for the fact of the methods pursued, irrespective of the 
character of the person so treated, is a scandal to our denomination. 

But, while I thus distinguish between Mr. Vaughan's character and the real 
question at issue, I in no degree swerve from the assertion, that taking him for 
all in all, I never knew a better or worthier minister of the gospel. 

Yours very truly, 

BREWIN GRANT. 

I next wrote to the committee of the Congregational Union, 
stating the case for the consideration of the members of that body, 
who were in fact responsible for the introduction of this tyranny. 

"Sheffield, Sept. 17, 1866. 

"To the Kev. Geoege Smith, D.D., Seceetaey of the Congre- 
gational Union. 

"My dear Sir, — I beg, through you, to call attention to a 
question directly affecting the Congeegational Union, from 
whose organ — the 'Year Book for 1866' — a minister's name is 
purposely erased, by the editor, without any intimation having been 
given to the minister so excluded. 

" The committee repudiates responsibility for any accidental omis- 
sions. But this was a deliberate act, which the editor refuses to 



202 

explain, further than by a reference to the rules of admission, at 
the head of the alphabetical list of 'accredited ministers,' which 
rules do not kepek to, nor provide for, exclusion. 

''This question is independent op the chakacter of the 
excluded minister, now deceased, and which won for him the 
esteem of many friends; for his exclusion was the secret and 
arbitrary act of your official, directed, perhaps, by others, the 
scandal of which attaches to your "Year Book." To pass by this 
act of tyranny will be to endorse it, and the world will take know- 
ledge of our conduct alongside our boasted liberal and independent 
principles. We make it our own act and deed, as a Congregational 
Union, if we endorse the "Year Book," and say nothing openly 
and officially against that private professional decapitation of one of 
our ministers by the silent erasure of his name from the "accre- 
dited" list. 

"We can no more talk of our Bicentenary heroes and martyrs, 
if we show to the whole world that, as far as we can, we inflict all 
the injustice which they suffered or practically connive at it. 

"As I do not desire to see any conflict or confusion in our meet- 
ings, I am anxious to know from you, whether the committee of 
the Union will be prepared with any explanation of this mysterious 
procedure, to which any one of us may be exposed, and which it is 
no less necessary to have explained because the victim of it 'is 
gone to a blessed home.' 

"Yours truly, 

"BREWIN GRANT." 

The following reply was sent to me by the secretary, the Rev. 
George Smith, D J). : — 

" Congregational Union of England and Wales, 

18, South-street, Finsbury, E.C., Sept. 25, 1866. 

" My dear Sir, — I should have answered your note earlier, but 
for the fact that I was from home when it was delivered at my 
house, and though it followed me at some distance of time, your 
pamphlet [' the Rev. Isaac Vaughan : a Memorial'] did not ; the 
latter I have read since my return and the former I sent to Mr. 
Ashton, [the Union's editor of the Year Book]. I have since seen 
and conversed with him on the subject, and I find that lie has only 
one rule in relation to the annual insertion of names in the Year 
Book. He places there only those who are returned to him [by 
the district secretaries]. Mr. Yaughan's name was not so returned 



203 

[i.e. by Dr. Falding, district secretary,] last year, and conse- 
quently it was omitted from the printed list. 

" I am sure that Mr. Ashton was not influenced in any degree 
by personal feeling, but simply acted on a rule which he applies 
alike to admission and omission. Neither his colleague [Dr. Smith] 
nor the committee interfere with his duty [caprice ? ] as editor, 
and a prefatory note in the volume distinctly declares that the com- 
mittee of the Union do not hold themselves responsible for any omis- 
sions or errors in the statistics. If any injustice has been done, or 
any needless sorrow inflicted, it will be deeply regretted by us all, 
and by none more than the editor. 

" I shall place your letter before the committee at their next 
meeting, and will convey to you any resolution or conclusion they 
may adopt. 

" I remain yours faithfully, 

" Kev. B. Geant, B.A." " « G. SMITH. 

That the committee might not come to any resolution based on 
the erroneous ideas entertained by the colleagues and secretaries, 
I immediately wrote in reply, as follows : — 

"Sheffield, September 26, 1866. 

My dear Sir, — I hope the resolution of the committee, which I 
anxiously wait for, will not include any of the exploded excuses 
which from your kind mention of them seem to be all that can 
be suggested. 

" You ' find that Mr. Ashton has only one rule in relation to the 
annual insertion of names in the Year Book. He places there 
only those who are returned to him. Mr. Vaughan's name was 
not so returned, and consequently it was omitted from the printed 
list.' This implies that the names are annually added anew without 
any reference to the fact of their appearing in the list before : so 
he receives some 2,500 names yearly ; and if any person fancies to 
omit one name out of this number he makes no enquiry, but erases 
the name from the ' list of accredited ministers,' and thus can 
publicly degrade any minister from his professional standing ! 

" A thing which neither law nor decency would permit. In this 
case he carries out the expulsion perpetrated privately by our 
district secretary, who permits the same name to be retained on his 
own college committee ! 

" But < he simply acts on a rule which he applies equally to 
admission or omission.' But you know that the rule does not 
apply to both. 
h 2 



" 'Additions are made to this list from time to time only as 
ministers [that is, new ones] are accredited by the tutors of colleges, 
secretaries of associations,' &c. Where is your rule for omissions? 
The ' name not having been sent is a poor evasion the name was 
there before, and need not be sent'. If your ' committee does not 
interfere' it ought, and is guilty of what it permits. The reference 
to the disavowal of responsibility for S omissions or errors' is out 
of place, since this was no such omission but a wilful erasion. 

"This 'injustice' was not done inadvertently, but on purpose. 
It did- inflict -'needless sorrow,' and your editor did not 'regret it* ' 
but treated it with levity as ' the good man's' fate — a marked phrase, 
uttered either contemptuously or insincerely, and explainable on 
no other ground. 

"The committee, I think, will not fence with so plain a case ; if 
they ' deeply regret the injustice,' let them frankly say so, and 
deliver the Union from the suspicion of being an organized 
tyranny sustained by organized hypocrisy, as this reference to 
non-existing rules would make it appear. 

" It is better to be plain in these matters ; and I beg you io 
excuse this plainness of speech, which still permits me to remam 
yours respectfully, "BREWIN GRANT. 

" The Rev. George Smith, D.D." j 

The official reply from the Congregational Union committee to 
my letter, as promised by Dr. Smith, was forwarded with the 
following note : — 

" My dear Sir, — I placed our correspondence before the com- 
mittee of the Union to-day, and they adopted the following resolu- 
tion, requesting me to forward it to you. 

" I am, with Christian regards, 

" Yours faithfully, 
" October 2, 1866." " G. SMITH." 

Resolution : — " A correspondence having been read between 
the Rev. Brew t in Grant, of Sheffield, and the secretaries 
of this Union, relative to the removal of the name of the 
late Rev. Isaac Vaughan from the list of accredited 
ministers in the last Year Book ; this committee, assured 
by Mr. Ashton that he acted in this case upon an official 
communication from the district secretary according to the 
invariable rule, must hold their editor blameless in this 
matter, and feel confident that nothing was further from 
his intention than to inflict injury, or occasion painful 
feeling in any quarter." 



205 

This "resolution" did not remove the "injustice;" it only 
attempted to shift the blame from " their editor" to the " district 
secretary." The committee did not express regret at " the injustice" 
committed in its own organ, nor produce the " official communica- 
tion," which could not be " official " unless the committee of 
the district authorized its transmission, which never happened; and 
when the district secretary omitted to send the name "their editor" 
should have enquired the reason, and the minister himself who was 
thus pained "without intention'" should surely have been com- 
municated with, Did Mr. Ashton think " the good man " had no 
friends ? 

- The "invariable rule " on which it is pretended that the editor 
acted, is simply taking cowardly refuge in an arbitrary invention. 

To prepare for meeting the assembly in Sheffield it was necessary 
for the committee to have some public resolution ; and this was 
provided for by a correspondence between me and Dr. Paekee, of 
Manchester, who, asking me what step I should take, and what 
resolution I could suggest, and at the same time corresponding with 
the secretary was at last furnished, as from the committee, with 
a resolution, which he had suggested and which I had amended, and 
which the committee had adopted and requested him to propose in 
the Sheffield meeting. 

. Up to this time Dr. Paekee had acted in the closest co-operation 
with me ; but having now been entrusted with a public position, for 
the expected autumnal meetings in Sheffield, he became reticent, 
adopted the principle, and ignored " the case," as indicated in the 
following chapter. 

- _ . ..■ 
— — 

Chaptee XXII. 

THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION MEETINGS IN 

SHEFFIELD, OCTOBER, 1866: 

SCEEENING OFFICIAL TYEANNY, SILENCING DISCUSSION, AND EVADING 
INVESTIGATION BY A PEETENDED EESOLUTION OF ENQUIEY. 

The Congregational Union having been involved by " their 
editor" in an act of grave tyranny towards a provincial minister, now 
deceased, by which act all the avowed principles of congrega- 
tionalists are set aside, and the committee, being reluctantly forced 
to enquire into the matter, in order to make some feasible 
h3 



206 

appearance in Sheffield, they arranged to smother the deed, by 
proposing to enquire into some new rules, instead of enquiring into 
the violation of the rules that did exist, and which had been dis- 
gracefully broken by the illegal erasure of a minister's name from 
the " Year Book," which is like striking a solicitor's name off the 
rolls, by an arbitrary act, without any notice or enquiry. 

The plan of hiding the case, under pretence of advocating the 
principle, was adopted with care and carried out with skill ; " The 
Bev. Dr. Parker rose to move a resolution in reference to the Year 
Book. He said the resolution had reference to a 'particular part 
of the Year Book" — meaning the list of accredited ministers. 
After a eulogy on the accuracy of the Book as " most ably com- 
piled," he proceeded : — 

" The resolution which he had to move was that the pastors, 
deacons, and delegates then assembled most respectfully 
requested the committee of the Union to consider ivhether 
any alterations should be made in the terms on it'Jiick 
the names of ministers were inserted in or omitted from the 
1 Congregational Year Book 1 and report upon the same 
at the next annual meeting." 
" He was in favour of the most stringent conditions of insertion 
being exacted, and the removal of a name was a thing that affected 
the church most seriously, and assumed a grave aspect. The 
removal of a name amounted to ministeeial deposition ; it was, in 
fact, a species of excommunication, and being fraught with the 
gravest consequences to individual ministers/'' he thought the time had 
come when the subject should be fully and candidly expounded and 
decided upon." 

" It was a matter for the consideration of the Union." "Whilst 
they stood up for the general repute of the denomination, they 
should be anxious in regarding the status of the youngest and 
obscurest minister of the Union. (Hear, hear.)" " He personally 
had in the matter which he had brought before them no cause of 
complaint whatsoever, and did not know that there ivas any case 
that then required particular scrutiny and investigation ; and there- 
fore that was a proper time for a full and candid discussion." 

Here I must in charity suggest that the speaker's memory was at 
fault, and perhaps he did not conclude his intended speech, in 
which he would have added, — "At least I know of no case but the 
- ■ 

*This acknowledgment renders the committee legally liable for the infliction 
illegally of so grave an injury. 



207 

one that has forced the committee into admitting this resolution of 
enquiry into our methods for the future, so as to screen our tyranny 
in the past." 

This proposition for enquiry was moved professedly on the 
ground that THEKE was no occasion FOE it. This I think is what 
they call "judicious," and is at least wonderfully reserved. 

" The Rev. Dr. George Smith seconded the proposition. It was 
already patent to the public by the wide circulation of the pamphlet 
which he held in his hand (' Memorial of the Rev. Isaac Vaughan'), 
that a long correspondence had taken place [between Dr. Smith, 
Mr. Ashton, and myself] in reference to the removal of a name 
from the list, [the Rev. Isaac Vaughan's] and when Dr. Parker 
sent to him the terms of the resolution he had just moved, it 
appeared to him to be a proper resolution, and he cheerfully 
seconded its adoption. He laid it before the committee of the 
Union, and they in like manner accepted it, and desired him, as 
secretary, to second it. The work was a veey delicate and difficult 
one. No one could imagine for a moment that a name would be 
omitted from any pique or prejudice, or that Mr. Ashton would be a 
party to the removal of any gentleman's name from the list. (Cheers.) 
He always depended upon local intelligence, and that local in- 
telligence or authority ought perhaps to be held responsible. [This 
means Dr. Falding.] He felt convinced that there were sufficient 
reasons to thoroughly vindicate Mr. Ashton in the whole course of 
his procedure. (Hear, hear.) He was not sure that the present 
mode was faultless, but they ought all to be jealous of the 
honour and eeputation of theie brethren, and no charge should 
be made very lightly. [' No charge ' is made at all !] The committee 
very cheerfully accepted the resolution which Dr. Parker had sub- 
mitted, and were prepared to give the subject the fullest and 

FAIEEST CONSIDERATION." 

Dr. Smith and his colleagues never intended the matter to be 
heard of any more. It was enough for the present to assure the 
meeting that his colleague Mr. Ashton would not " be a party to 
the removal of any gentleman's name from the list." Though Dr. 
Smith knew that Mr. Ashton had done it to Mr. Vaughan, and that 
he himself had transmitted to me from London the committee's 
attempted exoneration of their "editor," by his affirmation that "he 
acted in this case on an official document from the district secre- 
tary," Dr. Falding, who, knowing this fact, that he was accused of 
this " professional decapitation," now comes in to try and throw 

SOME OF THE BLAME BACK OH Mr. ASHTON. 



208 

" The Eev. Dr. Falding said he rose partly to support the reso- 
lution before the meeting, and partly to offer an explanation, which 
he knew would be expected [but never obtained] from him, and 
which he should most readily render. He agreed with the resolu- 
tion entirely, and was peksonally grateful to Dr. Smith and Dr. 
Parker for the terms in which they had moved and seconded the 
resolution. Dr. Smith had referred to a pamphlet which had been 
widely circulated, bringing up the case of the removal of a name 
from the list of accredited ministers. He desired not to refer to 
that — (hear, hear) — but he thought he had a right just to say one 
single sentence, and that was that the case had been brought before 
the public only through one channel, and that the other side of the 
case had never been made public." [It never will be.] " Dr. Smith 
had said that perhaps the responsibility should rest, not on the 
editor, but on the local informant — the person who had supplied 
the information. [He means the person who suppressed the name.] 
He was not sure that that was quite right. He thought the editor 
ought to satisfy himself that he had information from the right pany, 
and then it became a kind of divided authority. But that was an 
abstract question that he would not meddle with further. As to 

the particular case, and as to the part " he had taken, he was 

going to say, when Mr. Binney, thinking he had committed himself 
and the editor far enough, got up and gravely observed — " that 
there really was no case before them, and that they ought to discuss 
the resolution without reference to any particular case ;" and Dr. 
Falding was " willing to retire at that moment on the assurance 
that the particular case would not be brought up." They were all 
concerned to conceal " the case" which forced the resolution on, and 
by which alone its necessity was explained. I am told that Mr. 
Binney declared in London — objecting to the erasure in this case — 
" I myself may, on such a plan, wake up some morning and find my 
name taken off the Year Book." If he had borne this testimony in 
the meeting of the Union, it would have looked more like open 
justice. The plan there was to cry down any expression of even 
the opinions which they themselves could not help entertaining. 
Hence the following bear-baiting exhibition : — 

" The Rev. Brewin Grant, on presenting himself, was received 
with hisses and cries of ' Vote.' " This was an intelligent and grace- 
ful display of Congregational freedom. After some hubbub, Mr. 
Grant said he was there "to defend the dead and to protect the 
living." One Mr. Morgan, of Masbro', a fierce partizan, here 
" rose to order," and another " rose to order ;" since all that was 
needed was a little more disorder to prevent free speech. 



209 

The Rev. J. Parsons, following the official cry, observed that it 
" was most inadvisable to introduce any particular case into the 
discussion." 

Then the Chairman echoed, that " the resolution had nothing to 
do with a particular case," as if that case did not originate the 
resolution and come fairly under it ! 

The chairman, the Rev. Newman Hall, "objected to the intro- 
duction, especially without warning, of any particular case." He 
knew it was not " without warning." He had said in reply to my 
question, that "amendments" were admissible, and he had my 
printed "proposed resolution" on the table; and all had seen 
it for it was distributed through the meeting. He " ruled 
against particular cases," which he knew composed general princi- 
ples; and then he put to the meeting — "Will you allow the 
introduction of any individual matter or not ?" He knew that 
this was a false putting of the case ; it was a matter of public 
justice, and every minister in the meeting was concerned in it. 

After much confusion, and many liberal "Noes," which treated 
me to more thunder than lightning, I was enabled to reach this 
point : " The question was, the insertion and omission of names in 
the Year Book ; and that the matter be referred to a committee of 
enquiry. I asked— why was this proposed ? I wished that to be 
known. They had introduced it on the ground of a case, which 
they were afraid and ashamed of going into." 

This was enough for me, and too much for them : the exhibition 
of calmness and free deliberate enquiry was rather startling. 

The chairman, as a true partizan, observed to the meeting that 
-'the last remark was unworthy of notice," which gave great delight 
to those who did not know that it was as silly as it was rude, since 
he was doing what he properly intimated need not be done ; and he 
received this answer — "Then what did you notice it for?" They 
had now, as they vainly dreamed, smothered "the particular case." 

"But in these cases we still have judgment here,'" as poor 
Macbeth said: — 

" The times have been, 
That when the brains were out the man would die, 
And there an end; but now, they rise again 
"With twenty mortal murders on their crown, 
And push us from our stools." 

Banquo's ghost disturbs Macbeth's feast. The committee before 
coming down to Sheffield was haunted, and fear of the ghost drove 
them into this resolution, in which they expected, without repen- 



210 

tance or confession as to the past, to cover crying tyranny by a new 
rule for the future ; or rather, by forming a committee of enquiry 

COMPOSED OF THE COMMITTEE THAT IS IMPLICATED, whose policy WOUld 

be to hush up their crime. 

The suggestion, not to say pretence, of those who sought to 
influence the meeting not to hear "the case" was, that something 
unpleasant might come out ; as if the proposal was to enquire into 
the character op the deceased. Those who suggested this were 
either very dull or very dishonest. They either knew or ought to 
have known, for it had been put plainly before them, in their 
committee in. London, and in every other way, that the question- 
was INDEPENDENT OF THE CHARACTER OF THE DECEASED, and Was 

confined to the legality of the treatment which he received ; 
and therefore, if anybody had come forward to accuse him of stand- 
ing on his head on the pinnacle of Rotherham church steeple — 
which was as true as most things that were said — the answer would 
be : — all this is foreign — the case is not that of Mr. Yaughan, but 
an enquiry into the conduct of Mr. Ashton and Dr. Falding. 
The question was — did they illegally erase this name ? They 
know they did — the committee knew they did — the whole 
assembly knew they did. But they were all too delicate and 
faithful to acknowledge it. 

Some said they had not time to understand the case ; as if it 
would take them long to understand this — ought a man to be hanged 
before he is tried ? May a minister's name be erased from the 
Year Book at the mutual or divided fancy of a district secretary and 
the editor of the " Year Book," without any intimation being given 
to him, or any chance of protecting himself from this extreme 
of indignity? 

If the ministers there could not answer "no," in one word, 
instead of crying down the only one that protected their interests, 
they deserve all they get. I have no doubt that when they come to 
consider they will be heartily ashamed, and will divide the blame 
with the leaders who so often " rose to order," and who misled the 
meeting by courteous interruptons to suggest that " the particular 
case" which they knew would disgrace their officials should be 
withdrawn, and the resolution be passed without any reference to 
the cruelty and tyranny which forced on this tardy and theoretical, 
not to say hypocritical, acknowledgment of abstract justice, to avoid 
the odium of a particular case. 

By crying down the proposed resolution, which was circulated 
through the meeting the ministers and delegates present stultified 



211 

themselves, by in effect contradicting the self-evident propositions 
■which it contains. The following is what they thus negatived : — 
" Pkoposed Eesolution on ' The Year Book.' 

" That the omission of the name of the late Rev. Isaac Vaughan 
from the list of ' accredited ministers ' in the last ' Congregational 
Year Book ' without any notice oe trial, or any intimation to 
Mr. Vaughan before or after the omission, was an injustice and 
grief to Mr. Vaughan, is a threatening danger to every congrega- 
tional minister, is a violation of our principles, and should be dis- 
avowed by this meeting to save the denomination from disgrace." 

But the meeting voted that it is not " a violation of our prin- 
ciples," not " an injustice," not " a threatening danger to all 
■•ministers," not "a course to be disavowed," but a right thing, 
to depose a minister without notice or trial ! They abjured their 
rights, and signed articles of slavery. 

If any still quibble, and say that the question of " injustice" 
would turn upon the character of the deceased, then they still 
assume that it is just to execute a man without trial, to which every 
prisoner has a claim, whether guilty or not. In this " particular 
case" a local seceetaey, [the Bev. Dr. Falding] belonging to an 
opposite faction, and having taken an active paet, speaking in 
church meetings, and signing a memoeial against a minister, is the 
authority to send an " official document," omitting the name, on 
his own private account, being directed to do so by no committee ; 
.and on this " official document" from Dr. Falding Mr. Ashton 
says he acted, no enquiry being made of Mr. Vaughan and his 
friends ! All this the committee of the Union knew, and, with the 
exception of the Kev. James Parsons, every man who helped to 
induce the Assembly to suppress "the case" knew; so they in 
principle repeated, in the eyes of God and man, an act of odious 
private tyranny and disgraced Independency. 

Mr. Bobert Leader, the editor of the Sheffield Independent, and 
now a consistent " country member " of the " rattening" committee 
of the Congregational Union, put out flaring placards of his Satur- 
day's paper, with this leading announcement : — 

" Brewin Grant Extinguished." 

This was to get off his supplemental account of the Union 
meetings. It is like the whole affair. It shows what these men 
will stoop to. He was hard up for a "sensation." Perhaps this 
little trick was suggested to him by the leaders of the Union who 
assembled at his house, and made his shop their centre. It might 
be good news to some that the Bev. Brewin Grant is if. extin- 



212 

guished," but it is bad taste to confess it, and only parades the 
editor's disappointment in this " particular case.'' If he had 
announced "The Rev. Brewin Grant answered," all Sheffield 
■would have flocked to his office to get the paper in which he even 
promises what he has never yet performed. Surely it is enough 
that one victim of Congregational tyranny is removed to a "better 
home ;" but those who helped to crash his noble spirit and pain 
his generous soul, as well as those who now abet that wickedness, 
must not be impatient with Providence that permits at least one 
Independent friend to shield his memory, shame his persecutors, 
and drag into the light of public criticism those official instruments 
of professional decapitation. 

Trades Unions are accused of tyranny, in blowing up houses, or 
getting wheelbands stolen, and refractory members shot or other- 
wise disabled. Mr. Newman Hall, chairman of the Congrega- 
tional Union, whose officials, together with another official acting 
unofficially, took Mr. Yaughan's bands off the Union Wheel, and 
blew up his professional office while he was asleep, goes and 
lectures Sheffield working men about tyranny over one another. 

The Congregational Union, knowing its official implication in 
the same crime, justified the act, and reserved all its auger for the 
mau who detected and exposed it, standing bravely up for a 
deceased friend, and seeking to defend the living from similar 
tyranny ! I observed at the time that I had been in at least eight 

HUNDRED OF THE ROUGHEST MEETINGS OF WORKING MEN, infidels 

and otherwise, and I never allowed any man to be cried down, what- 
ever he might say, and I never was cried down myself but once, 
and that by some Canterbury roughs, who had been inspired for 
the occasion at an adjoining public-house. The only other time 
was by the Congregational Union, inspired from another source. 

This insolence and the tyranny which it was perpetrated to 
screen have been tamely submitted to by the whole denomination ; 
nor can I blame ordinary ministers for silent submission when it 
would be ruin to speak. 

How the committee intended to carry out the resolution of the 
Assembly, to enquire and report to the next meeting of the Union, 
as to the best methods of admitting and omitting the names of 
ministers, creating and decapitating them, will be seen in the 
following chapter. 



213 

5j£j Chapter XXIII. 

THE COMMITTEE ASSUMES ABSOLUTE DICTATORSHIP 

OYER THE UNION AND THE DENOMINATION: 

BY LEGISLATING INSTEAD OF REPORTING, 

The Manchester Meetings, October, 1867. 

The committee of the Congregational Union, having by Dr. 
Smith, its "mouth, matter and wisdom," "cheerfully accepted" 
a resolution which it meant to shelve, by way of giving "the sub- 
ject the fullest and fairest investigation," proceeded surreptitiously 
to frame a new law to legalize their old tyranny. 

No man who ever expects to get promoted, or to have his like- 
ness in the Evangelical Magazine, or to read a paper to the As- 
sembly, or to be a deputation, or to become chairman of the 
Union — the acme of honour, as all the introductions to the addresses 
adulatingly confess — would venture to oppose the violation of our 
principles, the injury of any brother, or any kind of wrong in the 
opinion or actions of the " wire-pullers" of "the body." Honesty 
is about the worst policy I know of, as Balak told Balaam long ago. 
(Numbers xxiv. 11.) 

It was October, 1866, when the pastors, deacons, and delegates 
then assembled "most respectfully requested the committee of the 
Union to consider whether any alteration should be made in the 
terms on which the names of ministers were inserted in or omitted 
from the ' Congregational Year Book' and report upon the same 
at the next annual meeting." 

This "next annual meeting" was in London, May, 1867; and 
though " the committee very cheerfully accepted the resolution," 
and as Dr. Smith, its secretary, said, were " prepared to give the 
subject its fullest and fairest consideration," they gave it the go- 
by instead, and insulted the Union, with its "pastors, deacons, 
and delegates," by making and printing a new law, before the 
assembly met again, as justly thinking that those men were un- 
worthy of being considered and consulted who had in so abject a 
style " most respectfully requested" their own committee to re-con- 
sider for their guidance those laws which they knew their com- 
mittee had grievously violated. 

The new law, illegally made, was never mentioned to the London 
meeting to which the committee was pledged to "report," and 
without whose authority it could no more make rules for the Union 
or denomination than for the kingdom. 



214 

I determined therefore to attend the autumnal meeting of the 
same year, which was to be held in Manchester, and accordingly 
obtained my delegate ticket, and went there, with a series of packets 
of pamphlets for distribution among the " pastors, deacons and 
delegates ; " especially a letter addressed to the members of the 
Congregational Union, some thousand of which besides other 
pamphlets were distributed at the different meetings. 
- The following is the substance of my letter : — 

CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISM TESTED. 



" The honour and integrity of British Congregationalism are on their trial." 

The Be v. J. Parker, D.D. 



i " TO THE MEMBEES OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 

" Dear Friends, — The special mission of Congregationalism for 
which it is deservedly prized is, — first, to afford an asylum for 
Christian liberty, in its freest exercise, in opposition to tyranny, or 
i lording it over God's heritage.' The second distinguishing feature 
is to secure the living guardianship of evangelical Christianity. 
The Rev. Samuel Martin observed in his opening address at the 
annual meeting of 1862, that ' our chief care, next to the soundness 
of our belief, must be to work out our church principles.'' 

" First let us enquire how far we carry out our own professed 
principles in relation to liberty and justice. We have no Synod, 
Conference, or Pope ; but we have district secretaries, and a 
metropolitan editor of 'the Congregational Year Book,' to whom 
most extraordinary powers are entrusted, or at least who are per- 
mitted to act as absolute dictators over their ' Independent ' 
brethren. A proposal was carried in the meeting at Sheffield, held 
in October, 1866, by which it was confidently expected that this 
yoke would be taken off the necks of congregational ministers. It 
was acknowledged that the yoke was ''intolerable," and that some 
better defence of our ministerial standing ought to be provided than 
the mere dictum of any official. 

Here followed Dr. Parker's letter, given in the preceding chapter. 

"We have already seen this question of ministerial existence 
referred to and shelved by the committee of the Congregational 
Union. The pastors and delegates did, it is true, ' most respect- 
fully request the committee to consider whether any alteration 
should be made in the terms upon which the names of ministers 
are inserted in, or omitted from, the Congregational Year Book, 



215 

and to report upon the same at the annual meeting in May next.' 
They did not propose to enquire whether the rules had "been noto- 
riously and scandalously violated, and terms op omission capri- 
ciously invented by their editor. This fact was carefully endea- 
voured to be concealed. ' The Particular Case ' which brought on 
the enquiry has since been acknowledged to be a grievous injustice, 
as the minister whose existence and work were ignored while he 
was living, obtains a place in the ' notice of ministers deceased,' and 
the church which he was building figures now in ' the Year Book,' 
while some who ignored his case in the Union took part in the 
opening of his church, and thus endorsed his work, and the course 
which his friends adopted in rallying round him while the union 
officials excommunicated him — to ' recognise ' him after his death ! 

" This case is not to be set aside as merely personal, and related 
only to the deceased, it is the testing instance as to the princi- 
ples on which the Congregational Union acts, and under which 
our ministry is degraded, if not enslaved. 

" The committee, though ' most respectfully requested,' gave no 
' report' on the matter to the meeting in May of this year, but 
foisted an important alteration into the ' special notice' placed 
before the ' alphabetical list of Congregational or Independent 
ministers.' 

" On page 202, * Congregational Year Book, 1867,' is printed as 
follows : — 

" ' SPECIAL NOTICE. 

" 'Ministers are added to this list, or omitted prom it, on the 
testimony and authority of tutors op colleges ; secretaries of 
county, district, or local associations ; three ministers, members of 
an adjoining association, when no association exists in the county ; 
or of five members of the congregational board, when the minister 
resides within the postal district of the Metropolis.' 

''The indicated interpolation, 'or omitted from,' had not 
been foisted in when ' The Particular Case' was perpetrated : no 
such rule existed : it was simply editor-made law, on which the 
committee was to enquire and report — it was not at that time a 
written law ; it is now invented and printed in your ' Year Book !' 

" I enquired of the editor, July, 1866, on what grounds a certain 
name had been erased, and by whose arrangement the omission was 
made. I knew the rules for adding names, but wished to learn the 
process of removing them. 

" To this enquiry he replied — ' The authority applies equally to 
admission or omission.' That is, as the names are ' added to' our 



216 

list by the recommendation of a college tutor, or a district secretary, 
or neighbouring ministers, so any college tutor, district secretary, 
&c, may of his own mere motion direct the editor to erase any name 
from the list of Congregational ministers ! The thing is incredible 
and monstrous. Nor did he tell me where the rule was to he found. 

" He could not find the rule then, but he or some one else has 
made it since. So that it must be acknowledged that if the editor 
exceeded the law before, he has got the law so altered that no 
similar abitrary excommunication can be regarded as illegal in the 
future. This is a new style of taking the law into one's own 
hands. This will surely try the faith and patience of ' Independent' 
ministers. 

" The second excellency of Congregationalism is, that it tends to 
fulfil the function of the church — ' the pillar and the ground of 
truth' — as the living shrine and guardian of evangelical Christianity. 
Is it true, then, that a Professok in one of our chief colleges, f who 
ivas deposed from an influential chair, under the suspicion — to say 
the least — of omitting every distinguishing doctrine of the gospel, 
has since then, but lately, been quietly re-installed ? Has this been 
permitted because Dr. Campbell, with his Standard, is no more 
amongst us, so that the criticisms which appeared in that paper, 
and were never answered, could not be repeated in a public organ 
that would reach the subscribers ? 

It would take up too much space to give the history of the contro- 
versy, which led first to a meeting of the College Council, wherein 
the professor's " Christian Faith" was endorsed and his position 
was confirmed ; and secondly to a meeting of the same, in which his 
teaching on " main proof texts" was condemned, but his general 
soundness affirmed, while his resignation of the Greek New Testa- 
ment chair was reluctlantly accepted, because the subscribers had 
been alarmed. 

"A series of papers appeared in the British Standard, carefully 
analyzing the professor's lectures on " Christian Faith." These 
were collected into a pamphlet called " The Kescue of Faith," and 
circulated by book post among the subscribers to the college. 

" The bitterest critics of ' The Kescue of Faith,' the Patriot, the 
Nonconformist, and the Christian Spectator, were obliged to condemn 
the professor's theology; while the Baptist Magazine , the United 
Presbyterian Magazine, the Record, the Freeman, and the Eclectic 
distinctly, and some of them at large, condemned the professor's 

teaching as subversive of the gospel. 

• This refers to Professor Godwin, at New College. 



217 

"The friends of the professor, abandoning all defence of his heresies, 
turned the full power of their denunciation on the writer who had 
most elaborately confuted this insidious and dangerous Neology. 
' On his arguments and analysis,' said one representative organ, 
i we cannot spend a [line ;' so some of the choicest ' liberal ' in- 
solence was poured on his devoted head, though not one of his 
positions was even controverted. 

" Only a few copies of ' The Kescue of Faith" are left, but the 
subsequent pamphlets, giving a history of the controversy, with rare 
specimens of the "press in relation to our denomination," may be 
had for stamps covering the postage. 

" Arrangements will be made, if possible, to provide any of the 
ministers and delegates with copies of these at the Free Trade Hall, 
and of ' The Memorial ' and ' Particular Case,' which show wherein 
we do not ' carry out our church principles,' and how we may do so. 

"We nullify our testimony by our inconsistency; nor shall we be 
able to open our mouth with power till we wash our hands in 
innocency. It is affirmed, and not without good grounds, that such 
acts of tyranny occur amongst us as could exist in no other 
denomination, and a wokse foem of eationalism is silently per- 
mitted in our high places than is to be found in Colensoism. 
Thus we are liable to be spectacles to angels and to men, one 
laughing at us, and the other weeping over us, for openly perpetrat- 
ing the tyranny which we protest against, and quietly fostering the 
rationalism that we scream at. 

"Our excuse for not discussing the errors of opinion and of practice 
that creep in amongst ourselves is, that ' the Union is not a court 
of appeal,' as if the same should not equally prevent discussing 
' Ritualism' or ' Rationalism,' for we are 'not a court of appeal' on 
these matters, or on any other ; though we are more concerned in the 
' Rationalism' of Godwin than of Colenso, and therefore avoid 
referring to it. We invent some show of reason for unfaithfulness, 
as if we were tender of liberty, which we betray in ' the Particular 
Case' and all cases like it ; as we betray the truth in another Case, 
and so fail in both ends of Congregationalism. 

" Our zealous regard for freedom, in not being ' a court of appeal' 
on points wherein our own loyalty to our principles is concerned, 
reminds me of a saying in Livy : — Semper aliquam fraudi speciem 
juris imponitis. We put some face of right on our violation of it. 

" Our allowing Cheist to be disceowned amongst us, while we 
are officious in testimony and loyalty to the truth, so far as other 
denominations are concerned, exposes us to this rebuke from them 



218 

— Hasc ludibria religionnm non pudet in lucem proferre ? For what 
is it but a mockery to be so earnest for a purity which we do not 
try to secure at home ? 

"If we could but give up talking about ' Ritualism,' which is 
a foreign disease, and at least spend our time on what relates to our 
own efficiency and purity, we should be better prepared for a foreign 
campaign. Similar remonstrances induced some attention to points 
nearer home, in the Rev. Newwan Hall's presidential address at 
Sheffield; but which, while claiming "greater facilities for discus- 
sion," was abundantly compensated for by his subsequent arbitrary 
suppression of free speech on a case that had occasioned the reso- 
lution then before the meeting. Besides this confession that he did 
not really mean to encourage the freedom which he advocated, we were 
refreshed not only with a book on ' Ritualism,' but with a preliminary 
survey by Mr. Newman Hall, of the same ground, as we ' watched 
the setting sun from a lofty peak in Switzerland,' and let our 

* thoughts travel far away to another scene," "up the glen, along 
the torrent's brink," to see a " bare-legged urchin carry home a can 
of newly drawn milk." This milk for babes led on naturally to 

* the exclusive claims on the part of an influential section of our 
fellow-Christians,' and we were elaborately instructed not to 
swallow sacerdotal sacramentarianism and apostolical succession — 
points which are more appropriate to some ' Pan-Anglican Synod' 
than to the business of the Congregational Union, if it have any. 

No denomination could with greater vigour rise, phoenix-like, from 
the ashes of past trials and sloth, than our own : all that is required 
is, that we exercise a manly freedom, and honestly consider our own 
ways, reduce our own principles to practice, and no longer consider 
those our greatest enemies who tell us salutary truths, however un- 
welcome : but if we must regard them as enemies let us at least 
remember — Fas est, ab hoste doceri. 

"The Preface to the 'Year Book, 1867,' groans over the fact 
that in the Church of England ' Evangelical truth and spiritual 
worship are greatly imperilled.' Among the ' objects' aimed at by 
the Congregational Union, the first is asserted to be ' to promote 
evangelical beligion in connection with the Congregational de- 
nomination,' yet no reference would be permitted in the Union 
meetings to any actual case of danger to that truth amongst us. 

" Instead of being distinguished for truth and liberty, we have 
heresy enthroned in our chief college, and tyranny enshrined in 
a ' special notice ' at the head of the ' list of Independent minis- 
ters,' as follows: — 'Ministers are added to this list, or omitted 



219 

feom it, on the testimony and authority (!) of tutors of colleges, 
secretaries of county, district, or local associations, &c.' This is 
the new eule of omission invented for us by those who in 1866 
6 excommunicate' and in 1867 ' beatify' the same saint ! 

." * There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the 
children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day. 
Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds ! ' (Judges 
xrx. 30.) Yours faithfully, 

"BKEWIN GEANT." 

This surreptitious legalising of tyranny was one of the things which I went to 
Manchester to expose. I had two ways of working — one to enlighten the brethren 
by the distribution of the letter, " Congregational Unionism Tested," and the 
other, to get through the cordon of officials on the platform, if possible ; for in 
our free Union every scheme is adopted to prevent the ventilation of any subject 
on which the managers frown. Besides that all is done up in red tape in London, 
a committee of reference is appointed at the meetings to consider what other 
subjects should be allowed to be introduced, or, in effect, to mind that nothing 
else shall be introduced, especially from any suspected quarter. 

Now, to obviate all objections as to the irregularity of introducing the enquiries 
which I wished to bring before the meeting, I addressed a letter through the 
chairman to the committee of reference, at eleven o'clock on Thursday morning. 
They were questions which could be asked and answered in two minutes ; espe- 
cially as, according to the subsequent assertions of the secretary of the Union 
and the editor of ' The Year Book,' they had a plain, short, and sufficient 
(though false) answer to each question, and should have been glad to give the 
answers in order to remove a painful and widely-spread suspicion. The desperate 
attempt to fence off questions which they were so ready to answer, throws further 
suspicion on the whole of their proceedings. 
, The following is the letter : — 

"To the committee of reference in connection with the Congregational Union 
meetings — 

B Gentlemen, — I beg respectfully to inquire of you whether permission will be 
granted for asking this morning — without any discussion — the two following 
questions : — Namely, first, as the pastors and delegates of the Congregational 
Union assembled in October, 1866, 'most respectfully requested the committee to 
consider whether any alteration should be made in the terms upon which the 
names of ministers are inserted in, or omitted from, the Congregational Year 
Book, and to report upon the same at the annual meeting in May next,' it is 
requested on this point to know whether such report has been made, and if not, 
when it may be expected ? Secondly, by whose arrangement — before any report 
could have been laid before the next ensuing annual meeting — an important 
addition was made to ' the special notice,' giving what was not in the Year Book 
before, namely, ' authority ' to ' tutors of colleges, secretaries of county or 
district associations, &c.,' not only to add ' ministers to this list ' of accredited, 
but to omit from it any minister ? 

" If this second question cannot be answered now, when will an answer be 
given ? — and may the information here sought be published in the Year Book, 
for the satisfaction of those concerned in these matters. 



220 

" The questions above mentioned may be read either bij the chairman or by 
the 'present applicant, who is prevented attending this morning's meeting before 
twelve o'clock, at which time he will come into the committee room for the answer 
to this application. 

8 I remain, Gentlemen, very respectfully yours, [ 

"BREWIN GRANT. 
" Thursday morning, Oct. 10, 1867." 

When I went into the vestry at twelve no committee could be found. Two of 
the members were on the platform, one was close by, and a quorum could have 
been called ; but the point was to shut out the questions. 

After waiting some time in the meeting I sent a pencil note up 
to the chairman, Dr. Campbell, of Bradford — (not the celebrated 
Dr. Campbell, of London) — and received the following note in 
reply, the original of which literally lies before me : — " The Refe- 
rence Committee had no opportunity of meeting to-day, its functions 
being exercised principally on the first day of the Assembly's sit- 
ting. The Chairman." This makes " the Committee of Reference" 
a mockeiy : the pretence first, is, that members of the Union may 
have an opportunity of introducing questions not provided for by 
the London committee, but which questions may be submitted pre- 
liminarily to certain gentlemen selected to sit during the meetings. 
The programme had arranged for " Miscellaneous resolutions " for 
that " Thursday morning," and at this stage such a question ought 
to have ( been freely permitted. Another programme said — " The 
committee of the Union have arranged for the following papers to 
be read to the Assembly," and after enumerating these the notice 
ends thus : — " It is intended that these papers should be brief, and 
that ample time should be allowed for their discussion, and for 
other business." 

"The Committee of Reference" — whose "functions" and the 
time of " exercising" them are so evasively and inconsecutively 
described by the "Chairman" in his note — existed for the purpose 
or pretence of giving opportunity to introduce " other business;" 
but when the business is honest and necessary, the Reference Com- 
mittee has " no opportunity of meeting," for this odd reason, " its 
functions being exercised principally on the first day of the Assem- 
bly's sitting." 

Since the committee could not be appealed to, I wrote to the 
chairman : — " Will you allow the question to be asked ?"— I got an 
oral answer to this at the foot of the platform steps : — " We must 
get through the programme first." The next move was to speak 
against time. But at last, when by several demonstrations, the 
attention of the meeting was called to the questioner, the chairman, 



221 

as represented by the Sheffield Independent, Oct. 11, 1867, which 
js hostile to me, explained that " the Rev. Bkewin Geant had sent 
him a note asking him to place it in the hands of the Committee of 
Reference. He, the chairman, put it into the hands of such mem- 
bers of the committee as were at hand, but the order of the day was 
such as to prohibit the introduction of fresh matter." 

This reads curiously alongside the pencil note : — " The Com- 
mittee of Reference has had no opportunity of meeting to-day, its 
functions being exercised principally on the first day of the Assem- 
bly's sitting. — The Chairman.'" 

The affected contempt with which this vigorous-minded gentle- 
man informed the meeting that Mr. Brewin Grant, of Sheffield, 
wanted to obtrude a question on the Assembly, only caused numbers 
to cry out "Platform ! Platform ! " on which I descended from a 
pew seat on which I had been standing, and ascended the platform. 
There, in some flutter, I stated the case, and was surprised to 
find, from three papers, that I had managed to put the question 
distinctly, for it was the culminating point of long labour and 
some excitement. 

Mr. Robeet Leadee, of the Sheffield Independent, gave in his 
organ, the chairman's curious intimation about " such members 
of the reference committee as were at hand, but that the order of 
the day [he meant \ the order of ' the committee] was such as to 
prohibit the introduction of fresh matter : " and the same report 
continues : — 

" Mr Grant then asked Mm to put the question from the chair. That he 
could not do, but with the permission of the Assembly Mr. Grant might now put 
the question himself. 

The Bev. Bbewin Gkant said, if the chairman had put his question he would 
not have taken up so much time as he had in explaining. It was to ask 
for information in reference to an alteration that had been made in the introduc- 
tion to the list of ministers in " The Year Book/' He wanted to know who 
made that alteration, and by what authority it had been done. The introduction 
had ran, "the names of ministers can be added to," and to this had been 
added " or omitted from," the list on certain authority. So that any member of 
that assembly was liable to have his name struck off the list by the tutor of a 
college or the secretary of a local association. This was now the rule : who 
made it? Had the committee to which the subject was referred at the last 
autumnal meeting made a report as requested? If so, when did they report? 
"Why should business referred to a committee be carried, away and smothered ? 
When would the report be presented, and who had changed the introduction to 
the Year Book ? They were all slaves in principle, for any of them could have 
his name removed without knowing anything about it until it was done. He 
didn't say they dare do it, except to a few poor men who couldn't speak for them- 
selves and had no friend who could speak for them. What he said was for the 
honour of his brethren and of the denomination. He felt ashamed whenever he 



222 

stood before churchmen and talked about Independency, when its principles were 
violated by themselves. He had no object but to free the denomination from 
every stigma that could be cast upon it. He believed their principles were per- 
fect, but that they themselves were not. The Chairman reminded Mr. Grant 
that he was making a speech instead of merely asking a question.. Mr. Grant 
begged pardon ; he knew he was trespassing, and concluded by repeating his 
questions — Did the committee appointed last October consider and report as to 
whether any alteration should be made in the terms of adding ministers' name's 
to or taking them from the list, and if they had not reported when would they ? 
Secondly, Who had changed the ' Year Book ' to what it had never been before, 
and which it would not have been now if he (Mr. Grant) had not exposed a case 
of tyranny ? " 

. This is pretty well reported for Mr. Leader : though I may correct 
the last sentence attributed to me by him, and this I can do by two 
Manchester papers. The Courier, Oct. 11, said, " He (Mr. Grant) 
stated that the alteration in the Book had been made to cover the 
tyranny which he (had) exposed." The Manchester Guardian of 
the same date reported me as saying, " Why had the words ' omit- 
ted from' been put in this year that were never in before, and would 
not have been in now but for the tyranny of the committee, which 
he (Mr. Grant) had endeavoured to expose." 

Dr. Smith, the secretary, instead of confessing the gross injustice 
committed, and the fraud and usurpation of inventing a law to 
screen it, was hysterically affected at the dreadful taste of using the 
word " tyranny." Perpetrating the act is nothing — falsifying the 
constitution of Congregationalism by a forged law is nothing ; but 
describing it in mild English words takes the good man's breath 
away ! This is the affected delicacy of men whose " words are 
smoother than butter" while " war is in their heart" — " words 
softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords" (Ps. lv., 21). None 
are more offensive than these smooth-tongued perpetrators of rough 
deeds, and whose only tenderness is for themselves as they lament 
the " free handling" of honest rebuke. 

The bitter sufferings which they inflict on the helpless victims of 
their secret conspiracies excite in them no remorse ; but they call 
out loudly for sympathy, and ride off loftily on the high horse of 
fastidiousness in language when their cruelty is described in the 
most moderate terms. 

But of all refinement of taste and exquisite delicacy of speech, 
what can equal this of Dr. Smith in reply : — " Dr. Smith asked 
whether the use of the word "tyranny" was a gentlemanly ivay of 
putting the matter ? Mr. Grant was the only gentleman who had 
used such language in their assembly in all the years he had known 
it." When some cried out " Question !" in reply to this egregiously 



223 

hypocritical evasion, the Doctor retorted : — " If any friends of Mr. 
Grant were calling * question,' he begged to remind them that he 
had a right to reply to the remarks that had been made." Exactly ; 
but he was not replying to them : he was fainting off into fits of 
virtuous indignation at the word " tyranny," to hide his practice 
and defence of it. However, he did at last come nearer the point 
in the following extraordinary asseveration, which I quote from 
Mr. Robert Leader's Sheffield Independent: — "In reply to the 
questions put, he (Dr. Smith) had to say, that in accordance with 
the resolution proposed last year the committee met and suggested 
the alteration as it now appeared in the Year Book, and reported 
in favour of the alteration ; the report was presented to the 
Union last May and was adopted by the Assembly. Neither the 
secretary nor editor had anything to do with the alteration." 

Now, if he had said : — " The committee contrary to (instead of 
* in accordance with') the resolution passed last year, effected 
(instead of ' suggested') the alteration as it now stands in the Year 
Book, and said nothing about (instead of ' reported in favour 
of) the alteration ; no report was presented to the Union (instead 
of ' reported it to the Union') last May ; and therefore it could not 
have been adopted (instead of ' was adopted') by the assembly," 
he would have said the exact truth. Dr. Smith has publicly 
confessed to these mistakes. Such mistakes on matters in which, 
men are so personally concerned do not often occur. It is true 
Mr. Ashton, the editor, confirmed these mistakes, which so far 
made them less singular ; but to this day I never could understand 
them. Mr. Ashton, under the same strange and fatal hallucination , 
as reported by Mr. Leader's paper, said " He would not supple- 
ment the answer of Dr. Smith further than to say that no name 
was put into or taken from the list without the authority of the 
brethren. The secretaries of county associations sent the names 
of ministers, and they were inserted in the Year Book just as they 
were sent." A Manchester paper adds : — " It was not he (Mr. 
Ashton) but the brethren in the county that were responsible." He 
knows, or should be taught, that even this authority of brethren 
from the county has to do only ivith adding new names. Joseph's 
name was omitted by " brethren in the country," but their " report" 
was such that to describe it by name would not, as Dr. Smith 
would say, be " a gentlemanly way of putting the thing." They 
first thought to kill him, then sold him, and then omitted him from 
the list of surviving sons of their father. 



224 

It was imposed upon that meeting that Joseph's " brethren in 
the country," acted as secretaries, under the orders of their 
respective associations; whereas the omission referred to was of 
a name admitted into the " Register of the West-Riding," and was 
never debated nor decided upon by that association: the secret 
personal omission of it by a district secretary, who ought to have 
returned it as in his district, was the editor's excuse for a further 
act of omission, namely from the standing general list of ministers. 
Samuel Morley, Esq., who miraculously escaped being spoiled by 
all the toadyism which he must have experienced, declared that it 
was " a vital question, and that the character of no living men 
should be in the hands of one man." This is plain common sense 
and honesty, and it indicates that the removal of a name is the 
destruction of "character:" it is in fact, the most virulent form 
of libel. Mr. Moeley added that " a man's character should be 
safe, not in the hands of any secretary or committee, but of the 
whole association :" whereas neither the man himself nor the 
local association — of which he is not necessarily a member — knows 
anything of the matter. He is decapitated professionally by the 
private act of an official acting unofficially, and by the endorsement 
of the Year Book editor, acting illegally and screened by the 
committee. 

Thus Dr. Falding erases Mr. Vaughan's name from the leaf 
of the old Year Book, as no longer at Masbro' chapel, and omits to 
put it down as in the same district connected with a. "new cause;" 
and this want of fidelity in a return for the district is crowned by 
the London editor taking the same name out of the list of ministers 
in England in which it has stood for thirty years ! 

Then they play at see-saw, and throw the blame on one another, 
while the victim of their combined treachery suffers a silent 
martyrdom and dies; and the one who protects his rights and 
reputation against these magnates is denounced as a man of a very 
bad spirit, who would not let such godly men extinguish a brother 
in peace. 

Mr. Morley's natural honesty, however, notwithstanding the 
confusion of the moment and the well-acted horror of the officials 
at Manchester, enabled him to see that some explanation was 
required. He asked whether the explanation "was satisfactory to 
the brethren ?" The Manchester Courier, gives as the answer, 
"No, no!" The Manchester Guardian paper gives — "Yes, yes, 
and no', no !" " The chairman" then comes in to conclude the 
scene, by judiciously observing, according to the Sheffield Indepen- 



225 

dent, "that -all this was out of order." The Manchester Examiner 
and Times reports : — " The chairman here interposed, and said the 
discussion was quite irregular. The question had been put and 
fairly answered. It should have been brought before the committee 
of the Assembly in a regular way." The Guardian reports him as 
saying: — " The question had been most irregularly introduced." 
There was no need to have added this grave mistake to the other 
asseverations which disgraced the meeting, and which Dr. Smith 
afterwards publicly recanted, when he was certain to be detected. 
This recantation will be noticed afterwards. Samuel Moeley, 
Esq., in reply to a private urgent request that he would fairly 
look into the matter, said emphatically — " I Milk" Knowing 
if he had the opportunity of attending to it the matter would 
be honourably adjusted, I left the Manchester meeting. I had, how- 
ever, so far advanced since the " crying down" meeting at Sheffield, 
that I was cried up to the platform ; and unless some new and 
more desperate act of tyranny should prevent the union meetings 
recurring to the subject I was sure that the battle of freedom was 
won. What further provocation the committee received, and how 
it plunged into a deeper gulf to escape, will be noticed subsequently. 



Chapter XXIV. 

DR. SMITH'S RECANTATION OF HIS ANSWER TO ME , 

ABOUT THE YEAR BOOK ; AND THE COMMITTEE'S 

TWO NEW SHUFFLES. 

London and Leeds Meetings, 1868. 

The following article, re-stating this " Year Rook" case, and 
advancing the history of it, appeared in the Sheffield Telegraphy 
January 1868 : — 

« THE CONGEEGATIONAL YEAE BOOK" AND THE 
EEV. BEEWIN GEANT, B.A. 

Those of our contemporaries in Manchester and elsewhere who published an 
account of " the scene" on the above subject, in the " autumnal meetings" of 
the Congregational Union in Manchester last year, should in justice give equal 
currency to the Eev. Dr. Geokge Smith's correction of, and apology for, the 
answer which he gave to the Eev. Brewin Grant's questions respecting the 
authority for certain important and objectionable changes, conferring on certain 
officials the arbitrary power of omitting the name of any Congregational minister 
from the " alphabetical list" of accredited Congregational pastors. 



226 

Such a sweeping, irresponsible power is not even dreamed of in other denomi- 
nations, who are supposed to be inferior to the Congregationalists in the professed 
freedom of their principles. In reply to the inquiry — on what authority this new 
rule was promulgated, the Rev. Dr. George Smith, the secretary of tbe Congre- 
gational Union, declared that it was done by the committee, in accordance with 
certain instructions, which only authorised the committee to inquire and report, 
aiot to legislate. He further said that the new law, thus made and promulgated, 
six months before the meeting of the Assembly, to which the committee was to 
report, was reported to, and approved of by, that public meeting. This, if true, 
would have made the rule no better, and would only have convicted the Assembly 
of endorsing tyranny. It is, however, now frankly acknowlddged that the rule, 
bad in itself, was surreptitiously introduced, and has not even the apology of 
having been publicly approved of. The full admission of this extraordinary fact 
was published in The English Independent of January 2, in the following 
letter : — 

" CONGEE GATIONAL UNION. 

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENGLISH INDEPENDENT. 

' " Sir, — Will you kindly allow me, through your paper, to correct an error into 
which I unintentionally fell at the late autumnal meeting of the Congregational 
Union in Manchester ? When the Eev. Brewin Grant made inquiry as to an 
alteration in the beginning of the alphabetical list of ministers in the Year-book, 
and asked who made it, and by what authority, I replied that it had been made 
by order of the committee, under an instruction of the assembly at Sheffield, and 
that it had been reported to the annual meeting in May last and approved. On 
looking at the annual report of that meeting, as given in the Year-book for 
1868, much to my surprise I find there is no allusion to the alteration, and I 
conclude that it was from forgetfulness omitted. While regretting this omission, 
I very deeply deplore the mistake I made in stating my conviction that the change 
had been noticed in the report. The statement, though erroneous, as I now 
fear, was made in perfect good faith, and with the concurrent opinion of my col- 
league, Mr. Ashton, who was equally of opinion with me that the alteration had 
been reported. On finding now my mistake, I lose no time in offering to Mr. 
Grant and all the members of the Union an expression of my sincere regret for 
its occurrence. Tbe effected alteration in the heading of the alphabetical list 
will be reported to the next annual meeting, when opportunity will be afforded of 
ascertainiDg how far it meets the views and wishes of the brethren. 

" I remain yours faithfully, 

GEOEGE SMITH. 
" Poplar, January 1st, 1868." 

It is needless to inquire how the two secretaries, who arrange the business of 
the committee meetings and the public assemblies, should have been so almost 
contemptuously confident that this important matter, which had caused " no 
small stir," formed a part of the public business in May, 1867. 

"It is equally difficult to understand how the secretary, who takes the minutes 
of the meetings, should have waited to see them in print and published before 
knowing their contents, when all the world could read and discover the mis- 
statement. 

" It is, however, satisfactory to find so open a confession, and still more 
to learn that the matter is not only to be reported but to be debated at the next 
annual meetings in May. Let us hope that the debate will be free and open, and 



227 

that the Eev. Brewin Grant "will not meet with such finesse and scheming as were 
employed to prevent the public utterance of his two plain questions at Manchester. 
" In order that the point may be settled in London, and not have to be re-opened 
irregularly at the next country meeting, where it might be roughly ventilated, 
the committee should arrange beforehand to permit an amendment on the report, 
namely, the counter -proposal that the new rule is irregularly introduced, is a 
violation of ministerial rights, and ought, for the honour of the denomination, to 
be omitted from ' The Congregational Year Book.' A fair hearing of this subject, 
of a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, with five minutes for reply, might in 
justice be accorded to one who has given himself so much trouble on this subject, 
and who could have no other motive, in exposing himself to obloquy from the 
more influential, than to defend the rights of his brethren and recover the honour 
of his denomination. Of one thing the committee of the Congregational Union 
may be assured, namely, that the question cannot be shelved; nor can it be laid 
at rest till it is fairly debated, if, indeed, it admits of debate. 

" If Congregationalists expect to influence others in the way of freedom, they 
must not enslave their own ministers and enshrine tyranny in then* ' Year Book.' " 
—Sheffield Telegraph. 

The method of introducing the matter at the London May 
Meeting in 1868 may be called smuggling. There was no intention 
for the matter to be debated, whether such an insane or wicked 
rule should be adopted, but just to adopt it as " the effected alter- 
ation," as Dr. Smith affectedly calls it in his curiously-timed letter 
of apology for a very extraordinary mistake. 

In consequence of being engaged with a second Bazaar towards 
liquidating the debt on my church before leaving it, I was unable 
to be present at the London May Meeting, 1868. 

Dr. Smith relying, and for once mistakenly, on the servility of 
his audience, referred in the report to " an accidental omission" 
from the preceding report, of this " effected alteration," and told 
the Assembly how the committee had appointed a sub-committee, 
and being itself reported to, had accordingly adopted those new 
words " or omitted from" which, gives new illegal power of 
expulsion to certain august officials. He did'nt apologize for this 
assumption of legislative functions by a committee that engaged to 
report to the Assembly. 

Notwithstanding the efforts of Mr. Binney by the diversion of a 
little joke to rivet the fetters of slavery on his weaker brethren, the 
whole scheme was foiled. The following account of the matter is 
given by the English Independent, whose slavish or tyrannical prin- 
ciples make it the willing tool of the " ruling elders," and therefore 
its testimony is valid against them. 

" The Eev. E. S. Prout : I intended to have seconded the resolution without 
a single sentence ; but there is one paragraph in the report I feel must be spoken 
of for a moment, because it is now or never. The report submits to the judg- 
ment of this meeting the altered terms in regard to the admission and omission 



228 



of names on the list of our accredited ministers. Inasmuch as it is submitted 
for our judgment, I do not feel I am violating the confidence of the secretary in 
referring to it. The terms on which names are added to the list are unquestion- 
able. There are five methods in which a minister's name may be added to the 
list already in existence, but the same rules, according to the wording of the 
resolution, would cause a name to be omitted ; and tbere, I think is the weak 
point, and it is really a serious one in matter of form, even though we have perfect 
confidence that neither secretary or committee would do anything that would be 
ungenerous or harsh to any brother throughout the whole country. But, as the 
terms of this resolution run, if two tutors of a college write up to the secretary to 
say, ' Mr. A. has forfeited his character, he has been guilty of so-and-so, he has 
lost the confidence of his brethren, and therefore his name ought to be left out," 
according to the wording of those terms the secretary would be bound to strike 
out the name. The committee does not mean that, I feel certain. If the secre- 
tary of the district association sends up to say, ' Mr. A. is no longer a member of 
that association,' that is a different matter ; but as the words are here written, 
certainly two tutors or five members of the Congregational Board of Ministers in 
London would have the power of requiring the name to be omitted. I think the 
mistake arises from endeavouring to condense into one sentence the terms of 
admission and omission. The terms of admission are unquestionable ; the terms 
of removal need to be very carefully re-considered. I have great pleasure, with 
that exception, in seconding tbe resolution. 

" The Rev. Thomas Binney : I think there was an expression that must have 
come upon the minds of a great many persons here who were present at Man- 
chester, and I am afraid must have caused them a great deal of pain. A little 
alteration would remove that distress, and I am sure my friend Mr. Geo. Smith 
will attend to it. He said it was a very great thing that the hospitality of the 
people of Manchester was equal to the ' increased requirements ' of their visitors. 
Now I think he means the increased number of visitors. (Laughter.) I was not 
at Manchester, but I should be very sorry to think that you went there, all of 
you, with increased requirements. (Laughter.) 

" The Rev. Dr. Smith : I am very sorry we had not the benefit of that criticism 
before, but Mr. Binney has given the right meaning to it. It means an 
augmented number, and the correction shall be made. 

" The Chair-man was about to put the resolution adopting the report, when a 
delegate interposed, and asked what were the terms of exclusion ? 

" The Chairman : It has come upon me partly by surprise. But it seems 
that there never has been a report given to this Union from the 
committee that was appointed to report to it, and that we have the 

THING NOW TABULATED AND ADOPTED WITHOUT REALLY HAVING OURSELVES 

sanctioned it. Possibly the thing might be accomplished, and all interests and 
susceptibilities met, by simply referring this point for consideration during the 
year, and bringing it up again for your adoption in an amended form. 

" The Rev. Dr. Smith: I think, sir, that would be a very wise course. I 
quite think there is weight in the remark our friend made. I have no doubt that 
attempting to put the whole definition into one short phrase led to obscurity. I 
may state it is the intention of the committee that the name of no 
person shall be omitted but on the authority of local, county, or 
other associations ; that the authority shall not be in London, but with the 
brethren in the neighbourhood where the man lives. If that does not 
appear quite plain now, I think the suggestion of Dr. Raleigh a very wise one ; it 
can be taken into consideration, and reported upon at a future meeting." 






229 

Ordinary persons would imagine that Dr. Smith and the committee 
could now have no escape from bringing it before the next general 
meeting ; whereas they suppress all reference to this debate in 
their Year Book, and simply say — " It was moved and seconded 
that this assembly, in receiving and adopting this report, renders 
its cordial thanks to the committee," &c. (Year Book 1869, p. 33.) 
But the vote of the assembly and the dictum of the chairman would 
lead any judge to decide that the newly-forged law is an illegality, 
and its enforcement a punishable crime. 

But then it was brought forward at the next meeting, perhaps; 
and settled, as far as the Assembly has authority by its " constitu- 
tion" to settle it ? By no means, my verdant friend ; it was silently 
passed by, as no doubt intended to be, when Dr. Smith thought 
the chairman's " suggestion" " a very wise one." 

I was busy lecturing when the next Union meeting was held, in 
October of 1868, at Leeds ; otherwise, as my church was " in 
arrears," so I could not go as a delegate from it, I should have 
sent the " five shillings" and gone, especially as I had several 
invitations to the houses of friends. 

I however sent a letter and a number of pamphlets — " Gladstone 
and Justice to Ireland" among the rest — which excited such 
indignation and wrath that a friend wrote to say he was glad I had 
not gone, for I should not have been permitted to be heard. The 
feeling ran very high ; and even he, said he did not expect among 
my papers one on the Irish Church ; but that he should always be 
" glad to see me as a /personal friend," which meant no longer in 
my public ministerial capacity, — that was sealed and doomed, for 
we are extremely "liberal." 

The Rev. Mr. Thomas, of Leeds, who, like a great many more, 
once oracularly denounced my " Rescue of Faith," and had to 
confess in company that he never saw it nor the " Christian Faith" 
which it criticised — rose towards the end of the proceedings to move 
some vote of thanks, when he incautiously admitted the terror under 
which the officials and their adherents had assembled, for fear I 
should be there after all ! 

He declared how they had met in fear and trembling, expecting 
some earthquake or tornado, and then looking round with recovered 
courage, observed with gratitude, but I do not see the person present 
who was to — "No! no!" greeted him; he was rebuked for the 
confession ; and then rallying, he said how he at any rate blessed 
the Lawhd that they had been able to hold their meetings in 
harmony, &c— "Hush ! " So, he stopped short, or would have added, 



230 

that they could sit under their own vine and fig tree, none daring to 
make them afraid ! For tyrants are often cowards. 

Now why should it have been so dreadful for me to appear among* 
a host of cultivated speakers ? I had the above account from one 
intelligent witness, and it was confirmed to me lately by another, 
who, like the first witness, is a Gladstonian. 

In my letter to the Union Meeting at Leeds, which was circulated 
extensively, I quoted Dr. Smith's recantation and the shuffle at 
London, and asked: Will the question be "fairly debated" at 
Leeds ? or, " will the brethren still stand in this independent 
position ? It is nothing to me. I secure only insult and defama-* 
Hon. But the honour and integrity of British Nonconformity are 
at stake, as Dr. Pakker says." 

The English Independent gave out hints that a new method of 
arranging the names of ministers would be adopted ; and in one 
place I think I read that it would facilitate a " judicious weeding of 
the list." That paper had already declared that I could no longer 
be a Congregational minister, since I did not adore Mr. Gladstone, 
or his " gods and heroes of Greece" or Rome. Aided by liberals in 
other liberal papers, it tried to smooth the way of the dictation 
in the Union as they all set up a dictator in the State. The Non- 
conformist, gladly joining in this conspiracy, quoted (Nov. 11, 1868) 
the following from its colleaguing contemporary : — ■ 

The Congbegational Year Book. — An entirely new plan has been deter- 
mined for arranging the list of Congregational ministers in the " Year Book." 
Henceforth the names of those only will be inserted who are connected with the 
London Congregational Board, or with one of the county associations. Others 
can only be admitted on the requisition of five neighbouring ministers who are 
themselves accredited ministers of some association. This will relieve the editor 
from all responsibility. — English Independent, 

Neither of these editors explained how responsibility was evaded 
by the surreptitious invention of a new rule a second time, for now 
another alteration had been determined on without the assembly 
having been consulted. 

This second new rule came out with the Year Book of 1869, and 
was thus referred to in the Nonconformist (Jany. 6) : — 

In the list of ministers no names are allowed to appear but those returned by 
the secretaries of County Associations or Unions, and the secretaries of the Con- 
gregational Board and the General Union. This rule has been adopted with a 
view to obviate unpleasant controversies. 

Now this method " of obviating unpleasant controversies" only 
aggravates them, and places the committee and its agents and pub- 



231 

Usher in a dangerous position, if their victims are not so crushed 
as to find neither friends nor means to vindicate and recompense 
the sufferers. 

Before the Year Book came out, the rumours and paragraphs 
respecting some new style of " thumb-screw" led me to enquire of the 
secretary, Dr. Smith, but knowing how he had insulted me previously, 
as when, at Sheffield, I civilly asked him a civil question as he passed 
out of the meeting, he went on muttering thunder, and I followed 
saying " I beg your pardon, I did not understand what you were 
saying ;" to which he replied, rather gruffly, " I am ashamed of 
being seen speaking to you." I promised that it would not occur 
again : — in writing to so great a man, even though he had publicly 
apologized to me for his Manchester answer, I thought it becoming 
and modest to assume the third person ; which I did as follows : — 

" Sheffield, Dec. 8th, 1868. 

" The Kev. Brewin Grant presents his compliments to the Rev. Dr. 
George Smith, and would be obliged by being informed whether the 
statement respecting "the entirely new plan" "for arranging the 
list of Congregational Ministers in the Year Book," as described in 
the English Independent, and quoted thence into the Nonconformist 
of November 11th, was sanctioned by any public meeting at Leeds, 
and whether it refers to new ministers only, or to names that have 
long been on the list. 

Further — whether the Year Book question as previously brought 
up in Sheffield, Manchester and London, was put down on the 
programme for Leeds ? On both public and personal grounds an 
answer to these questions is respectfully requested ; since it should 
be known if new terms for continuing on the list are demanded, and 
by what authority the long-established custom of the denomination 
is departed from, if such should be the case. 

"A directed and stamped envelope is enclosed for the favour of 
a reply." 

" Bournemouth, Dec. 17th, 1868. 

" Dear Sir, — I have no recollection of the newspaper paragraph 
to which yon refer, and therefore cannot answer your question 
respecting it. 

" So far as I remember, the Year Book question was not put 
down for Leeds, it having been decided upon at the annual meeting, 
if my memory serves %m aright; but as I am from London, on ac- 
count of the state of my health, I have no access to the documents 
which would enable me to give the information you seek. Mr. 



232 

Ashton, the editor of the Year Book, is better able than I am to 
answer the questions you propose to me. 

" I remain yours faithfully, 
" Eev. B. Grant, B.A." " G. SMITH. 

Mr. Ashton was surly and would not answer at all, even when I 
was myself the victim ; but I ought here to say, to Dr. Smith's 
credit, that since this occurred he has always been prompt and 
courteous in his answers. But it will not escape the notice of the 
reader that this official of the Union should not only, at Manchester, 
make so grave a mistake, confirmed by Mr. Ashton of course, but 
should, at the time of writing the above, be ignorant whether the 
question was put on the programme for Leeds, according to his 
public promise to the chairman in London : and even think the 
matter was settled there, when his report of it was rejected by the 
assembly ! It is on such rules, so concocted, that the Congrega- 
tional Union may have legally to vindicate its good faith in its 
dealings with ejected Nonconformists. 



Chapter XXV. 
THE CHERRYTREE ORPHANAGE, 

TOTLEY, NEAR SHEFFIELD, 

Conducted by Mr. E. R. Taylor. 

Notwithstanding the difficulty of getting into the space fixed upon 
for this book all that I should like to say, I must give a short 
chapter to this excellent institution, which needs and deserves the 
assistance of Christian people. 

A few years ago, Mr. E. R. Taylor, who was I think brought up 
among the Wesleyans, and was for some time Havelock Missionary 
to our soldiers in India, and in the same capacity in other parts, 
was impressed with the idea of taking in and educating orphan 
children. He first received some into his house at Cherry tree, 
Sheffield ; then filled the next house ; then took a large hall at 
Highfield, Sheffield, and then began to build a large Orphanage 
at Totley, about four miles distant. 

All this was begun in faith, and he found, generally, that supplies 
came in for support of the children. But some became afraid that 



233 

tlie contract for building could not be carried out ; that it was rash, 
or too adventurous ; and steps were unwisely taken that eventually 
lessened public confidence, so that the building was in danger of 
stopping a little above the foundation. 

At this time J. Webster, Esq., the Mayor of Sheffield, kindly 
laid the foundation-stone ; and I attended, simply because the 
enterprise was in danger. 

I was asked to act as treasurer to the building fund, and spent 
two months in begging and teaching the collector to beg. We had 
much misrepresentation to battle with; but with many, my name 
did the institution good : and a few days before writing this, I saw 
the last certificate to the builder for £250, and went with the 
collector to S. Fox, Esq., of Deepcar, who had promised a second 
help when the building and grounds were put in trust ; but our ex- 
Mayor, who laid the stone, had not yet been able to complete the 
trust deed. However, as we could explain that it was in process, 
and would soon be finished, but that in the mean time the con- 
tractor needed some advance, Mr. Fox, kindly gave us another 
£50. Many gentlemen had generously given fifty; among the 
earliest, Francis Hoole, Esq., the worthiest layman among Dis- 
senters in Sheffield, sent for me, and having enquired into the case 
gave £50 : several others did the same, and so we started into 
public confidence. 

I write this simply to enlist the sympathies of the benevolent, 
both towards the support of the children — between forty and fifty 
of whom I saw dining on Christmas day last, with only one sickly 
child amongst them — and also for any further aid towards com- 
pleting the furnishing, and the final entire purchase of the land, or 
rather removing any debt, for it is purchased, and at a very 
reasonable rate. 

"The following is quoted from a circular which contains a list of 
the subscribers to the building fund : — 

" This Institution is not local or sectarian in its operations, but receives 
orphans from all parts of the United Kingdom ; has been in operation over five 
years, and it was necessary to erect a suitable building. A. site was accordingly 
secured at Totley, near Sheffield. The foundation stone was laid by John 
Webster, Esq., Mayor of Sheffield, August 21st, 1867. 

The object of this Institution is to feed and clothe orphan children of both 
sexes; and to educate them on unsectarian principles, and prepare them to 
become honest servants and good citizens. 

The new building, and Brook Hall, with nine acres of land, will cost £3500. 
The whole is being put in trust. 



234 



The following gentlemen are the trustees :— 



J.Webster, Esq., Ex-Mayor, Broom-hank 
T. Moore, Esq., Mayor, Ashdell-grove 
S. Butcher, Esq., J.P., Banner Cross Hall 
Henry Pawson, Esq., Broomhall Place 
W. C. Leng, Esq., Broomhall Park 
W. Howson, Esq., Storr Wood 
F. W, Hoole, Esq., Moor Lodge 
C. Doncaster, Esq., Broomhall Park 
John Unwin, Esq., Eockingham-street 
John Hall, Esq., Westbourne 
B. Nicholson, Esq., Cemetery-road 
W. H. Greaves, Esq., Norfolk-road 
Alfred Chadburn, Esq., Brincliffe 
Thomas Searles, Esq., Pitsmoor 
Joseph Haywood, Esq., Highfield 
James Morton, Esq., Lawson-road 
W. H. Ward, Esq., East Bank 
George Saville, Esq., Snig-hill 
Samuel Fox, Esq., Deepcar 



W. Fisher, Esq., J.P;, Norton Grange 
G. Wostenholm, Esq., Kenwood-house 
William Harmar, Esq., Norton 
S. Oshorn,Esq., Butledge, Clarkehouse- 

road 
W. Whitehead, Esq., Sharrow^head 
H. Cooper, Esq., Pitsmoor ru* 
W. H. Fawcefct, Esq., Clarke-house 
K. Broadhead, Esq., Upper Hanover-st- 
George Bassett, Esq., Endcliffe D 
Isaac Milner, Esq., Priory Villa's :;i 
E. Searle, Esq., Belmont, Uppertherpe 
E.T.Eadon,Esq.,BrookVilla,Atterclitt% 
S.Meggitt, Esq., Cannon Hall, Pitsmoor 
Henry Bossell, Esq., Broomhall Park 
Thomas Cole, Esq., Cavendish-road 
J. W. Travis, Esq., Clarke-street,- 

Broomhall 
J.Wortley,Esq.DonHouse,Philadelphia 



Nohle assistance has already been secured from gentlemen of influence in 
Sheffield, and it is hoped that this case of the orphan will commend itself to other 
gentlemen, whose kindly aid will be gratefully received. 

Will you kindly give a donation to this work ? 
£ Donations 1 may be paid into the Sheffield and Eotherham Bank or to the 
following gentlemen : — +« ffwni 



Francis Hoole, Esq., Solicitor, Moor 

Lodge, Sheffield 
Eogers Broadhead, Esq., 6, Upper 

Hanover-street, Sheffield 
B. Nicholson, Esq., Cemetery-ro£&, 

Sheffield 

. ■ .arMtf-' 



John Webster, Ex-Mayor 

Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A., Broomhall 

Park, Sheffield 
William Hargreaves, Esq., Merchant 

Eyre-lane, Sheffield 
Mr. E. E. Taylor, Brook Hall, Totley 
J.Unwin,Esq.,Eockingham-st., Sheffield 

P.S. — The undersigned having been requested to act as treasurer to the 1 
fund, this office has been accepted pro tern, in order to facilitate the important 
bject in view. 

BEEWIN GEANT, Broomhall Park, Sheffield,*: 

N.B.— The building is nearly paid for, but many extra expenses, 
beyond the contract, were incurred, and the furnishing is not all 
paid for. Mr. Taylor would gladly send any one his annuaFreport. 



Mr. PAGAN, Fitzwilliam street, Sheffield, 



■ 

. ■ I edi 
domdD 
aviae 
Collects for the Institution. loiaiaL 



235 

Chapter XXYL 
BUILDING THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CEMETERY 
ROAD, AND RESIGNATION OF MY CHARGE FOR A 
TEMPORARY PUBLIC MINISTRY, FOR SPECIAL 
SUNDAY SERVICES, AND WEEK NIGHT LECTURES 
AGAINST RITUALISM, RATIONALISM, and ROMANISM. 
1860 to 1868. 

Soon after my settlement in Sheffield it was considered desirable 
by the denomination generally to erect new churches for new dis- 
tricts growing up round the town. I was recommended to lead in 
this enterprise, and was promised the support of the other churches : 
so went with a very few to found a mission church, or 'entirely new 
cause. I received great assistance from persons of all denomina- 
tions ; and should say that out of some three thousand five hundred 
pounds raised during my pastorate for the building fund at least a 
thousand pounds was contributed by churchmen. 

A circular, sent round for a second bazaar, to be held in order to 
advance towards the entire payment for the edifice, is given here to 
indicate the spirit in which I conducted my ministry in relation to the 
town at large. 

THE CASE of the Cemetery-road Congregational Church, being an Appeal 
fey the Bev. Brewin Grant, B.A.,to friends outside the congregation, to aid them 
in their present efforts to complete the liquidation of the debt remaining on that 
edifice. 

If we were to draw a line from Hunter's-bar down Ecclesall-road to Sheffield- 
moor, then turn round to the right up to Highfield, passing a little way up Shar- 
row-lane, and then turning to the left, round, and including Nether-edge, going 
on lastly to Brincliffe-edge across to Hunter's-bar where we started from, we 
should have an area within which was no place of worship when the site was 
selected for our Church. Since then others have happily joined in meeting the 
necessities of this populous neighbourhood. Besides the Baptist Chapel, built 
almost simultaneously with the above Congregational Church, two families of 
Methodists have occupied Nether-edge, and a National Episcopal Church is being 
erected near Shirle-hill, by Kenwood Park. 
: If any, as we can scarcely imagine, should think that the whole burden of pro- 
viding religious instruction should be left to the Episcopal Church, the members 
of which are doing munificently in Sheffield, it is enough to say that a variety of 
denominations meets a variety of tastes and conditions in life, and serves to keep 
the Churches alive by the stimulus of a healthy competition. , Under any one 
Church the population would go to sleep : but those outside the National Church 
serve at least the purpose of the poor man in a Scotch Kirk who, while the 
minister was preaching, amused himself with throwing peas at the heads of the 
sleepers, and when rebuked from the pulpit, retorted — " You go on preaching, I 
will keep the folks awake." Or the Dissenters in general, in relation to the 
i 2 



236 

National Church, may be compared to that other slenderly endowed individual 
who, while a good Scotch minister was conducting the service, would go up into 
the pulpit to assist him, and when told that he "must not come there," replied 
— " They are a stiff-necked generation, and require us baith." That both are 
required in Sheffield, as well as in other places, is obvious enough ; regulars and 
volunteers — the combined forces of every brigade — will not be too much to con- 
quer the ignorance and irreligion which are natural to all mankind. Every one 
who contributes to the establishment and efficiency of any place of 
Christian worship perpetuates an ameliorating influence, whose benefits are 
incalculable. 

The minister of the Cemetery Eoad Congregational Church has endeavoured to 
do his part for the general advantage as well as for his own congregation. Besides 
his mission to the working classes, in which a most rabid and infectious form of 
popular infidelity was checked and almost annihilated, he has, since his settle- 
ment in Sheffield, endeavoured to do his share in the public service. When there 
was a danger of an unhappy division of feeling between church and chapel by an 
untimely controversy, he preached and published and circulated extensively, by 
post, to leading men of both parties, a discourse intended to withdraw attention 
from minor differences to those material truths and principles of liberty in which. 
all Christians are concerned, and which are perilled as much by our divisions and 
estrangement of feeling, as by the tactics of the common enemy. The title of 
this discourse was — " The Church : Her Dangers and Her Duties: or, The Pro r 
testant Eirenicon." 

When the Bradfield inundation spread terror and misery in our neighbourhood, 
he took the opportunity of printing and circulating gratuitously a pamphlet; 
entitled " The Flood and its Lessons." The same was done by him in reference 
to the unhappy disclosures in connection with recents events, in a pamphlet, 
entitled — " The Trade Outrage Commission and its Lessons." These were in- 
tended to disseminate useful principles of religious union, social kindness, and a 
wise forethought, together with true ideas of political economy and religious 
responsibility. 

It can scarcely be expected that every one will agree with every principle 
advanced in these papers, a copy of which as far as they remain on hand will be 
sent with this statement ; but it is confidently anticipated that the general -views 
and purposes are such as to commend themselves to the considerate and in- 
telligent. 

It should be stated here, with thanks, that the author of these pamphlets has 
been enabled to distribute gratuitously many thousands of these and other pro- 
ductions, by the aid of contributions from gentlemen who sympathise with the 
object. Though much more has been done in these and other ways, than any 
such kind assistance has covered ; and the writer hopes for the future to be still 
further enabled to " serve his generation," and is gateful for such assistance as 
may in any way be rendered towards the success of his endeavours. 

He is especially concerned in the removal of the debt on the Congregational 
Church, Cemetery Boad, and will be grateful for any assistance kindly rendered 
towards this object, the accomplishment of which will remove the only hindrance 
to complete efficiency and extending usefulness. 

A Bazaar will be opened in connection with this movement a little before 
Whitsuntide of 1868 ; contributions of money and goods will be thankfully 
received by the Bev. Bkewin Grant, B.A., Broomhall Park, Sheffield. 

We obtained about four hundred pounds by this second bazaar, 
in a time of great depression of trade, and were enabled to claim 



237 

another hundred pounds from the English Congregational Chapel 
Building Society which was promised when we reached a certain 
stage. 

About the beginning of the year 1888 much attention was called 
to the rapid growth of " the Catholic Revival in England." Several 
clergymen in Sheffield gave lectures on the subject, and I began 
carefully to examine the question. 

I saw inside the church traitors, and outside enemies, and that 
to "conquer an imperial race" was the concentrated scheme of the 
sacerdotal caste. 

I read many books and gave two lectures on the subject, and felt 
deeply impressed with the necessity for some persons being, for a 
time at least, wholly disengaged so as to attend to this matter. 

Although I felt necessitated to throw my energies into this work, 
I could not at first let it be known to my church and congregation, 
because we were then engaged in raising a bazaar towards liquidating 
the debt on the building, and if my people had known, many would 
have ceased to work ; and people outside, from whom the greater 
part must be raised, who gave on personal grounds, would have felt 
less interest in the matter. 

I did, however, privately inform the treasurer of the church, so 
that he might make arrangements to prevent a sudden change pro- 
ducing confusion or disruption. I secured the services of a late 
student of Lancashire College as my " occasional supply," and did 
everything to facilitate his entrance early into the pastorate in my 
place. 

This succeeded ; and when at the close of the bazaar it came out 
that I was going to leave, some were angry and some in tears ; and 
many in the sudden feeling would have left, but I prevailed on most 
to stay at the church and to secure the services of the young 
minister whom I had introduced. 

THE KEY. BREWIN GRANT'S 

ANTI-RITUALISTIC CAMPAIGN, &c. 

The following account of my resignation and farewell address is 
adopted from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of June 15, 1868. 

Last evening the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., gave a public state- 
ment of his reasons for entering into the above line of public 
advocacy, giving his reasons in the form of a farewell address on 
retiring from the pastorate of Cemetery-road Congragational church, 
which had been built in connection with his efforts, aided by a few 
friends who joined him, to raise a new congregation as a mission 
i 3 



238 

church. Three thousand five hundred pounds had been raised 
towards the building fund, besides meeting the expenses of worship, 
though none of the worshippers were rich, and only a very few 
commenced the enterprise. 

Mr. 'Grant observed that, though leaving the office of pastor of 
that church in order to carry on more extensive labours which he 
considered absolutely required, he should still reside in Sheffield, 
where he had so many friends, not only in his own congregation 
but outside his own denomination. 

He would not trouble his audience with detailed facts, which 
accumulated every day, as to the rapid growth and monstrous cha- 
racter of the Catholic revival, which threatened the destruction of 
English religion and liberties in order to dominate over the world 
in one vast confederation of priestcraft. But while not entering 
into these particulars, which would be more appropriate to lectures 
on the subject, he could adopt the words of Sir Alfred Slade, Bart., 
and apply them to this case : — " My fellow countrymen, you are so 
peaceful and so prosperous that you have not yet opened your eyes 
to the revolution in which you are living. There are bloody 
revolutions and bloodless revolutions. It is not clear to my mind 
which are the least evil. Certainly the last admit and encourage a 
much greater amount of self-deceit than the first. But whether 
you will or no, the day of battle has come, and you and your 
children cannot escape it." 

He would put before them in a condensed shape the result of 
extensive reading and observation — the grounds for his new form of 
public ministry and general advocacy, which were stated in the 
following propositions : — 

1. A determined and formidable movement is now being made to extinguish and 
overthrow such religious light and liberty as have so long distinguished this land. 

2. The movement has, by secret processes, gained considerable advantage 
and foothold, so that batteries formerly masked are now boldly opened. 

3. One in a responsible position is reported to have said, what certainly 
describes the actual position : — " The High Church Eitualists and the followers 
of the Pope had long been in secret combination under the guise of Libe- 
ralism ; and under the pretence of ' legislating in the spirit of the age' they 
were about, as they thought, to seize upon the supreme authority of the realm." 

4. In a meeting where Irish priests preponderated, it was said that it would 
be more true to affirm that such a confederacy existed between English Xiibera- 
tionists and Irish Bomanists.* 

5. " The English Church in both its branches is the key to the position," 
and the enemy has gained a lodgment. 

6. It is only public apathy, founded on ignorance and aided by a false liberality, 
that renders the position of the enemy tenable and progressive. 

* This turns out to be the truth. 



239 

7. This apathy can be removed by careful, persistent, enlightened, and Scrip- 
tural advocacy of the principles of religion and liberty, bequeathed by our Lord 
through his Apostles, recovered by the battle of the Reformation, and now again 
endangered by what is called "the Catholic Revival " in England, in- which 
"Anglican Jesuits" are strenuously engaged. 

8. A great awakening of the Evangelical party in the Church of England, 
clerical and lay, is both a pledge of earnestness on their part and an acknowledg- 
ment, though tardy, of the crisis which is threatening. 

9. A more general movement, independent of, but in honourable and free 
alliance with, Evangelical Episcopalians, is also needed, in which the "more 
advanced Dissenters " and English Protestants generally may contribute their 
share, and prove that while pseudo-liberalism can ally itself with superstition 
and despotism, real liberality is allied to real religion, " not as a question, of 
party, but of Christ and Christianity." 

10. It is proposed, therefore, that a representative of this class, or several 
representatives, as may be feasible, should be devoted to the study and popular 
exposition of this question, by tongue and pen — mastering the secret and 
policy of this conspiracy, and awakening such public attention as that people 
shall be warned and alarmed before they are beguiled and fascinated. 

11. Such an anti-Ritual advocacy would supplement and complete the efforts 
of Evangelical " Church Associations," and would possess some advantages 
peculiar to itself, both in freedom of action and as to the force of disinterested 
and independent testimony, and not the struggle of one party for power against 
another party, as Erastian philosophers might say of Evangelical Churchmen. " 

12. Many who have means, but not time, to enter into details of such public 
questions, and yet have deep convictions and solicitude on the matter, would ho 
doubt gladly aid in the support of such agency as they could confide in, and 
thus, as if by deputy, take an efficient part in the defence of all that they hold 
most dear and sacred. 

13. Money spent in law is useful, as in the late St. Alban's case, in which a 
Ritualistic judge, while abandoning the principle to find "room for both 
parties," — still condemned and forbade certain details of Ritualistic innovations. 

14. But money spent on public advocacy, to prepare the national mind for 
resisting all the encroachments of priestcraft, may be more advantageous than even 
building and endowing a Church; for it may, by the blessing of God, prevent 
the misappropriation of all present and future churches. 

15. In anticipation of some such movement, and in faith that God's pro- 
vidence will secure friends to sustain the effort and render it effective by the 
Divine blessing, the accompanying letter was prepared as the draught of an 
intended public announcement, and the basis of the writer's resignation of his. 
present charge. 

LETTER OF RESIGNATION. 

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CEMETERY-ROAD. 

Sheffield, June, 1868. 
Christian Friends, — For some time I have been impressed with the fact that 
there are certain public questions demanding more time and thought than could 
be devoted by one who has the prior and personal claims of his own pastorate, 
especially if many demands were made upon him, without much organised 
assistance. " The English Independent," during the same period, contained 
some suggestions respecting a general ministry in contradistinction to an 
exclusive pastorate, which coincided very much with my own feelings in favour 



MO 

of some being occupied, at least for a time, in public -work, so as to be able to 
take more special services, and enter further into public questions than is con- 
sistent with the numerous claims on a settled pastor. My own mind has been 
powerfully wrought upon in reference to one public question, on which the 
future religious condition of England, humanly speaking, greatly depends — I 
mean the partly clandestine and partly open attempt, under the cloak of Ritual- 
ism, to involve our nation in the darkness of superstition, and bind our posterity 
in the fetters of priestcraft. 

' I feel deeply and solemnly that we, as Dissenters, are bound to come to the 
aid of the Evangelical party in the Chuch of England, to prevent the citadel of 
that Church being employed to dominate over and enslave the country. From 
our independent position we can, in some respects, speak out with greater force 
and impartiality than is always permissible to an Evangelical clergyman. 

It is, therefore, to the study and development of this question of Eitualism 
that I propose for a time to devote my chief efforts in the way of week-night 
lectures, while I shall be open to special services and occasional " supplies" in 
any chapels the managers of which may honour me by invitations to such 
services. My resignation of the office of pastor among you, necessitated by the 
above considerations, would have been tendered earlier but for the interest of 
our Bazaar, which might have suffered from the intended change. I shall 
continue to feel an interest in your highest welfare, and doubt not you will 
heartily respond. 

I remain yours affectionately, BREWIN GRANT. 

THE CHURCH'S ANSWER AND TESTIMONY. 
TO THE BEV. BBEWIN GEANT, B.A. 

Reverend and dear Sir, — At the special Church meeting of the Cemetery-road 
Congregational Church, held June 10th, 1868, for tbe purpose of considering the 
propriety or otherwise of accepting your resignation, it was unanimously resolved 
that the members express their deep regret that from your convictions as to the 
necessity of your intended public work, they have no alternative but to accept 
your resignation, believing as they do that nothing but a deep sense of duty could 
nave induced you to resign your office as pastor, and give precedence to the im- 
portant undertaking to which you have devoted yourself. 

. We know well that any system regarded by you as delusive, subversive of 
morals, and fatal to the noblest instincts of humanity, will be dealt with by you with 
an unsparing hand, never abandoning your right to use persuasion or denuncia- 
tion, ridicule or philosophy, wit or invective, eloquence or science, the treasures 
of history or the resources of genius, the amenities of art or the severity of logic, 
the ornaments of poetry or the maxims of experience, all which we know you 
regard as the gifts of God's good providence — intrusted to our reason to be employed 
in the defence of that, crowning gift, — His Holy Word, the palladium of our 
liberties and the solid basis of our hopes ; and you would still regard yourself as 
false to the truth you hold, faithless to the minds of others whom you ought to 
warn and deiend, forgetful of your allegiance to your blessed Lord, if you allowed 
His kingdom to be invaded without employing the artillery of argument, and 
sweeping with the battery of truth the legions of the enemy, who menacingly 
-march up to the walls of Zion and boast that they can shake them. 

To drive back and check the incursions of the enemy is no doubt your great 
aim in the work upon which you are about to enter, and believing you to possess 
every intellectual and other necessary endowments, we wish you every success. 

It will be impossible for those who know the service you rendered during the 



241 

erection of the Church to forget your untiring efforts to meet the financial re? 
quirements of the place. Your interest in the Church has been proved during the 
late Bazaar by not making known your intended resignation until it was over, 
lest it should suffer in any way. Many of our friends, not wishing to lose your 
services, have been very anxious that a co-pastor should be obtained, but others 
whose views are coincident with your own thought it would be to your advantage 
if your resignation was accepted and you were free from any minor claims. 

Your general liberality, and kindness in seasons of difficulty and distress, wijl 
never be forgotten. Hoping that, although your official connection with us has 
ceased, we may long be spared to reciprocate those friendly feelings which for 
many years we have enjoyed, 

"We remain, on behalf of the Church, 

THOS. BOWER, 1 ~ arin „ a 

WILLIAM BISSETT, [• ueacons - 

He, with the Church, regretted his being called away by im^ 
perative duty, and desired for his late flock all spiritual prosperity. 
They had experienced many difficulties and many blessings together, 
and he hoped that they were but beginning to reap the fruits of past 
labours. 

He wished further to explain, for the satisfaction of his numerous 
friends, that while his sole original intention was to confine his 
advocacy to the Ritualistic and Rationalistic movement, he had also 
seen the necessity of examining with closest scrutiny the tendencies 
of certain politico-ecclesiastical changes as proposed in relation to 
the Irish Church. 

The same circumstance which awakened his grave suspicion as to 
the possible ulterior objects of that proposal had also awakened 
similar suspicions in the mind of the celebrated preacher, the Rev. 
C Spurgeon, although that gentleman had at first committed him- 
self determinedly to the side of Mr. Gladstone's resolutions. He 
still sees that it is necessary for Churchmen and Dissenters to unite, 
in order to demand that " not one penny" of the funds proposed to 
be distributed be given to Roman Irish priestly educational esta- 
blishments, or any other form of deadly Papal error. 

Mr. Gladstone having declined to give any guarantee in the form 
of a resolution on that subject, and having even opposed such gua- 
rantees, it is only necessary that the general public should under- 
stand this point of danger, and he (Mr. Grant) should consider it a 
part of his public work to make that increasingly understood. 

The reverend gentlemen begged to apologise for saying one word 
as to his own motives in the undertaking, which had naturally begun 
to be impugned by those who had no other answer to his argu- 
ments, and who, as a class, never did give any other answer than a 
perversion of what he said and an imputation against his motives^ 



242 

all in the name of fairness and that much-abused phrase, "a 
Christian spirit." It was beneath him to enter into controversy 
with men who are forced to descend to such topics, and whose only 
liberality is liberality of insolence and abuse. 

It had been very generally and industriously reported— -he 
scarcely thought it was believed— that he was seeking ordination in 
the Church of England. He was not aware that even this would 
be a sin, except in the estimation of more liberal-minded people, 
who had a right to differ from everybody, but felt that nobody had 
a right to differ from them. Still, he wished again to say that he 
did not remember ever dreaming of such a step, and certainly it 
never occurred to him in his waking moments. But wherein he 
could co-operate honourably with the Evangelical section of the 
Church of England, in defence of their common Christianity, he 
did not feel called upon to refrain, even though the " English Inde- 
pendent" which is very much like the Sheffield one, had not scrupled 
in its last number to say that " he will find it very hard to con- 
vince them of his own sincerity." Such insults he naturally 
expected ; and his only answer was, that they would find it much 
harder to convince him that they doubted his sincerity. Nor did he 
doubt theirs ; he believed that such persons were as sincere 
tyrants as ever applied a thumbscrew, and that the " sincerity" of 
their tyranny was the most fatal judicial element in their own 
blindness and self-conceit. They were not even ashamed of their 
own imputations, which indicated the blessedness of the fact that 
their power was not equal to their disposition. All this, however, 
was but a tribute of their fear to his influence ; and when such 
ceased to malign and began to applaud him, he should fear that 
he had forgotten his own independence, and betrayed the cause of 
God's truth and man's liberty, to which his whole life had been 
consecrated. 

There were two objections which had been made against his 
course. One was that he was doing it for pay, and the other was 
that he was doing it for nothing. One came from friends and one 
from enemies. The latter, who say he does it for pay, did not 
believe what they said, and themselves hoped it was not true ; for 
there is nothing that they like so little as to see a minister well paid, 
and nothing they like so much as to be well paid themselves, except 
seeing those starved who work independently and are not the tools 
of their party. 

There is one thing to be said of such people, and goes far to 
soften anger into pity, namely, that they are so little accustomed to 



243 * 

any generous impulses or heroic self-sacrifice that they have lost the 
capacity of seeing it, or at any rate of openly acknowleging it, and 
to "level down" to themselves, are forced to deny its reality. 
Accordingly the "English Independent," which trades on the repu- 
tation of the British Standard, the last free Orthodox organ of 
Dissenters, says : — " Mr. Brewin Grant's i anti- Ritualistic campaign' 
turns out, as might be supposed, to be a stump on behalf of the 
Irish Church." "Possibly he may convince the audiences he 
addresses that he represents ' the more observant English Dis- 
senter ; ' but he will find it very hard to convince them of his own 
sincerity. He best knows the proper market for his eggs ; but not 
even this accession of talent to Mr. Disraeli's company will suffice 
to keep the concern going beyond the present season." (June 11, 
1868.) These men have no higher conception than the best "niarketfor 
eggs," though they often take them to the wrong market after all, 
and do not get them sold, because they are suspected ; nor hatched, 
because they are addled. Such writers and organs are the disgrace 
of controversy and the bane of libert} 7 . The Church News, a cele- 
brated Ritualistic paper, from a less dishononrable motive says— 
"It is given out that the Church Association has engaged the well- 
known Congregational minister, Mr. Brewin Grant, to lecture 
against Ritualism." This is a mistake, but not a malicious one. 

I have even been asked by friends whether I am not " engaged " 
—promised payment ; in fact, whether some party has hired me,* 
which no party is rich enough to do ; because, though some men, 
judging from themselves, say "Everyman has his price," there 
are still those who believe in God, and cannot afford to dispense 
with their conscience for any "engagement" with "the kingdoms 
of the world and the glory of them," as the reward of venality. 

But then a second objection, that of anxious friends, is — " You 
have a family ; you ought to have a certainty ; " and to them I 
reply — I wish no party to be responsible for my course, but desire 
to obtain the personal sympathy of friends without involving any, 
and without being myself involved, as the mere agent, delegate, or 
hired advocate of any party, which position might both endanger 
my own independence of thought and weaken the force of my public 
testimony. The undertaking of the enterprise is in no way depen- 
dent on such assistance, being morally necessitated by the growing 
and irrepressible conviction that it is demanded by " the signs of 
the times ;" but such aid would nevertheless greatly help in the 

* The Rev. David Loxton put this question to me just before cutting me 
for not joining in Gladstone worship. 



244 

comfort and efficiency of carrying out the work, and especially in 
the pioneer work of making the mission known and understood, as 
well as in the careful study requisite for entering upon it fully armed. 

I believe, moreover, that He Who calls to this work — for I am 
constrained to regard it in this light — will prepare the way and 
provide the means in answer to confident waiting and earnest effort ; 
nor do I expect to be without the aid of the fervent supplications of 
those who desire, above all things, that the truth of God may be 
vindicated, and His name glorified in the revival and increasing 
prevalence of pure and undefiled religion, as the security for all 
other blessings on which the liberty and happiness of mankind 
depend. I cannot think that God will forsake England, after all 
that He has done for it ; and I believe that if we are not utterly 
faithless He will not permit this land, which should be the centre 
of light and liberty to all others, to become what some now strive 
to make it — the centre and stronghold of priestly domination. The 
rev. gentleman continued : — Any who could aid him in his work by 
securing the opportunity of giving lectures, or holding special 
Sunday services, or in any other way, would receive his hearty 
thanks. To them he said, in words formerly employed — be sure 
of this, that the English Church is the key to the position for 
mastering England; it is already sapped and mined, and the 
enemy is inside, and the fight is going on. 

Shall we not adopt some means to arouse the majesty of Britain 
to abate this danger, and leave to our children the same inheritance 
of God's truth and man's freedom as we received from the hand of a 
beneficent Providence ? As for himself, he could only utter the reply 
of the prophet, when in Israel's apostacy, the inquiry was, " Whom 
shall we send?" In this way he would be consistent with that 
prayer which he lately publicly offered : — Would to God that He 
would raise up some whose lips are touched with a live coal from off 
the altar, who should stand out and vow before Him Whose gospel 
is insulted — that every energy they possess, all diligence of study 
they can use, all heroic zeal which they can evoke, all eloquence of 
tongue or pen they can reach, every power of body, soul, and spirit 
shall be consecrated to this great cause of religion and liberty 
against superstition and despotism, to the glory of God the Father, 
by the sanctification of the Spirit, and in honour of Jesus Christ, 
the one only Priest — that Great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. 

The address was listened to throughout with profound attention. 
The sacred edifice was crowded by a large and respectable congrega- 
tion, outside the pews being also occupied. We believe some had 
to return on account of their not being able to obtain admission. 



245 

THE REV. BREWIN GRANT'S 
ANTI-RITUALISTIC CAMPAIGN, 

And General Ministry in defence of the English Reformation against 

the so-called Catholic Movement. 
I. — Which Side shall we Join: The Ritualists or the Evan- 
gelicals ? AND WHICH SIDE IS THE PRAYER-BOOK ON ? 
Containing a Plea for united action on the part of Christians of all denominations 

against Superstition and Despotism. 
This Lecture can be had as a specimen, by any one sending his address and six 
stamps to the Author. 



II. — A Defence of the English Reformation against the Rev. 
Dr. Littledale's Ritualistic " Innovations." 

III. — The Sacramental System: or the Mystery of Iniquity. 

Showing how the Temptation of our Lord in the Wilderness, is repeated ; to 
tempt His people, by the same misuse of Scripture, to seek supernatural 
Bread, to follow Sensationalism in Religion, and to commit Idolatry, in 
falling down to worship the Host and the Priest. 

IV. — The Purple Robe : or Ritualism a Mockery of Christ and 
Christianity. 

With Criticisms on the Rev. Mr. Legeyt's Lecture on Christian Worship, 
wherein he advocates Objective in opposition to Subjective Worship ; 
that is, a sensuous and idolatrous Ritual, instead of worshipping " in 
Spirit, and in Truth." 

V. — The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain. 

Or an Analysis of the Bishop of Salisbury's " charge," at his " Triennial 

Visitation." 

VI. — The English Church the Key to the Position for the 
Mastery of England. 

N.B. — The Rev. Brewin Grant undertakes to give the above Lectures in con- 
nection with any Association of Christians, or any individuals interested 
in the subject ; but not as the Agent, Representative, or Advocate 
of any Party or Society. 

As incidental to the above Lectures and Mission, he is also prepared to give a 
Lecture on 

The Irish Church — an English Dissenter's View of it; 
or Mr. Gladstone's Missing Link.* 

It is desired that, on the occasion of delivering this Lecture, half-an-hour 
should be permitted for Questions and Objections; on condition that 
opponents listen moderately quietly to the Lecturer's statements. 

■ * The title of this lecture is now changed to — " Liberaiionists Betray Dissent, Rob the 
Church, Favour Popery, and Destroy Liberty." This should be given in every large town. 
It has been given in Sheffield and Birkenhead. To the above may be added — "Nuns AND 
J^unnebies. Should Conventual Institutions be.under Government Inspection?" 



246 

Arrangements can also be made with Young Men's Christian Associations,. 
Mutual Improvement Societies, and Literary Institutes, for 
Lectures suitable to th^e objects of those institutions. — A list of Lectures 
on application. 

Ministers, Sunday School Teachers, and others, are also respectfully 
informed that the Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A., having for a time resigned 
a private pastorate for the above public work, is open to form engage- 
ments for Anniversary and other Special Services ; many invitations 
to which he has been hitherto obliged to decline, and in some cases, from: 
accumulated engagements, has been driven to neglect applications, to- 
which now he will be able to pay immediate attention. 

It is desirable, as far as possible, that arrangements should be made for Week- 
night Lectures in, or near to, the locality in which the Sunday Services 
are held. 

Broomhall Park, Sheffield. 

/tl9Cj 

Bfim. 

i rr O" 

Chapter XXVII. 
THE REV. GENERAL PICTON, B.A., and HIS LEICESTER 
BRIGADE OF VOLUNTARY ROUGHS, AIDED BY 
LIBERAL AND RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER EDITORS,— 
LEADER, BAINES, MIALL, TURBERVILLE & Co. 

When I was at Carmarthen, — where a person named " Joseph," 
who was drunk and interrupted my lecture, and then wrote a false 
account of it, which Messrs. Leader and Ttjrberville accepted andf 
repeated, but which a gentleman who was sober corrected in the 
Carmarthen Journal,—! walked up a long street till I came to aft 
obelisk celebrating Picton, and enumerating the battles in which lie 
fought for his country. 

The " Picton" at the head of this chapter is another person who 
headed a Leicester mob of liberal dissenters, invited by the " Free 
Press," probably at Mr. Picton's dictation, to cry me down, which 
feat they celebrated as a victory of liberalism — which means 
rowdyism. There never could be a public meeting on the other 
side if such liberals could prevent it. 

Mr. Picton's friends not only cried me down, interrupting me for 
the space of an hour and a-half, when we had paid for and engaged 
the hall, — and they had no more right to interrupt and prevent 
speaking than they had to pick pockets ; — but they also, perhaps at 
his instigation, came to me personally, and accused me of having 
had my education paid for me by my late friend Dr. Legge, 



247 

respecting which a corset dealer in Leicester market, , an agent for 
the party, insulted me in the most liberal manner. 

The suggestion was that I was ungrateful in turning against 
people who had educated me in the faith that I should turn out a 
(Hadstonian. 

This Mr. Picton, who is a member of the Congregational Union 
committee, demanded that my chairman, A. Pell, Esq., now M.P. 
for South Leicestershire, though announced on the placards, should 
vacate the chair before I should be allowed to give my lecture. 

I acknowledge that I had formerly proved that Mr. Picton had 
forsaken the truth once believed amongst us ; for in two Bicentenary 
discourses on the words " That they without us should not be 
made perfect," — he showed that Christ and His apostles were not 
perfect without him ; that our trust deeds of our chapels should be 
made of india-rubber, to admit any growth of thought, as they call 
the erratic conceit of improvers on Inspiration. 

But if Mr. Picton improves on the apostles he stops at Mr. 
Gladstone ; and while claiming liberty to differ from the gospel he 
should preach, does not permit me to differ from him. 
l" I paid a second visit to Leicester, and had a ticket meeting to 
keep out the roughs ; at which time Mr. Picton was invited to a free 
debate, in which his own lambs should be muzzled, and only the 
speakers be allowed to speak. 

He loftily declined the honour, as not being willing to " come 
into personal contact" with me ; though, as I explained to a large 
audience, he need not have come any closer than when he mounted the 
platform with his yelping pack at his heels. They can well master 
ypu if they can stop you ; but all of them together neither could 
answer, me nor report honestly what I said. The right of public 
meetings ought to be settled by parliament, and everyone inter- 
rupting contrary to the rules of the chairman, by the printed 
conditions of the placards, should be expelled by the police as a 
public nuisance. Mr. Roebuck nearly lost his life by liberal rowdies 
in Sheffield, hustling him in one of his own meetings, and mobbing 
him outside ; on which Mr. Leader, a Congregational committee- 
man, observed in his paper to the effect "that no man more 
righteously incurred public indignation." 

These are the disgraceful principles and proceedings to which I 
was exposed, the most unmitigated ruffianism, physical and literary, 
that ever trampled liberty under foot. 

Every falsehood was secretly or publicly affirmed, to make Dis- 
senters close their ears and to discard one who, if wrong, was open 



248 

to an answer,, and always asked for it, and never got it. I was 
seeking for ordination in the Church, I had offered my services to 
the Liberation Society for five hundred pounds, and been rejected ; 
I then sold myself to the Church, and in the first meeting I attended 
was asked how much I got while a minister, and how much now 
from the Church Association. This was heard by ministers and not 
rebuked. 

Mr. Leader, or some one else from Sheffield, sent down to the 
Independent and Baptist ministers at Haverfordwest, that I per- 
mitted my wife and family to go to the Rev. J. Burbidge's church, 
and that my own church was just on the point of turning me out, 
that the place was getting hot for me, on account of my opposition 
to Mr. Gladstone. 

These men did not state this as an accusation of my Church for 
its supposed bigotry, but as a proof and reward of my wickedness. 
The ministers I refer to are a Mr. Long and a Mr. Dr. Davies of Haver- 
fordwest. At Llanelly, a Baptist minister, with two or three others, 
headed a meeting, tickets having been got in the lump by the liberal 
committee, and grossly insulted me, and left a mob at the door, 
of their followers, to wait till I went out. I let them cool their heels 
for two hours. A clergyman's position in Wales and other places 
was often intolerable: they lived in a state of siege, and were 
coarsely insulted; the Rev. Bury Capel, M.A., of Abergavenny, was 
to be thrown into a horse-pond if he took me to the lecture ; and so 
much were the friends of Protestantism afraid, that the committee 
proposed giving up the lecture but Mr. Capel, who was as courageous 
as he was modest and gentlemanly, would not succumb, and the 
meeting was held. Another excellent clergyman, the Rev. D. 
Howell, of Cardiff, was denounced in placards of the most, 
unfair character, even to quoting his translation, when a youth, 
of some Dissenting publication. 

A Baptist minister, named Young, at Abergavenny, obtruded 
himself upon me at an hotel, to say that he was disappointed in not 
hearing me on a previous occasion, and when asked to hear me in 
a few days, immediately got out a placard, as many others had done, 
to malign me as a purchased renegade ; and in reply to a note, in 
which I offered him a long space to criticise my lecture, wrote to 
say, that when I had actually gone into the church and no longer 
appeared under false colours, he would condescend to debate the 
question with me.* 

* The Saturday and Sunday before this Abergavenny lecture I stayed with the able 
and excellent clergyman of Llanover, the Rev. Joshua Evans. 



249 

This kind of insolence and ignorance greeted me frequently, and 
men pretended not to know my position, as the Dissenting papers 
also wilfully falsified it, in order that Dissenters might be prejudiced. 

What offended these men most was, that while like my former 
friend, the Rev. David Loxton, they could challenge clergymen 
on state- church principles, they could not deal with a Dissenter 
who knew all their tactics, despised their policy, and exploded 
the liberal trick that made Dissenters the dupes of Manning, 
Cullen, & Co. 

A liberation agent asked a friend of mine, who was himself a 
Gladstonian, how I was paid? and when told "that is the last 
thing my friend Mr. Grant thinks of," said — ' : Well, he is a mystery 
to me:" for the free spontaneous defence of what a man considers 
the truth, to his own injury and loss, is a " mystery " to many. 

As it was foretold to me, before I began, that I should lose my 
preaching if I opposed Mr. Gladstone, so it turned out, and four 
sabbaths for which I was specially engaged, were thrown on my 
hands, on the ground that I did not go against the Irish Church. 

The persistent misrepresentations of the Liberationists and Con- 
gregational Unionists have prevented me obtaining a preaching 
engagement since ; and the tyranny of the Union has closed, as far 
as it can, the Congregational pulpit against me for the future. 

The illegal act of "ministerial deposition and excommunication" 
perpetrated on me by the Congregational Union will, I hope, be 
expounded in a court of justice which recognizes the rules of any 
society as a contract with its members ; but to contest such a point 
which will be comparatively short and simple, will require the 
pecuniary aid of friends who are opposed to arbitrary power. 

There is not a man in all the Liberation society's ranks that has 
lifted, or will lift, up his voice against this slyest — most offensive and 
injurious — act of persecution. The secretary of the Liberation 
society, Mr. Carvell Williams, is a member of the Congregational 
Inquisitorial Committee. 

Instead of Dissent laying down, as was its duty, a model of 
freedom and purity on which the Church if disestablished could be 
partly formed, it stands as a warning of the base and servile ends 
to which the loud professions of liberty may be prostituted. 

The same is true of our semi-religious newspapers of the liberal 
caste. The editor, of the Sheffield Independent, who is a "country 
member" of the "rattening" committee of the Congregational Union, 
prepared the way for their tyranny by a wilful falsification of a 
testimonial into a libel by inuendo. 



The falsified statement was as follows :— ^ . Q{f 

"A meeting of the Cemetery Boad Congregational Church, held, on , 
"Wednesday evening, unanimously accepted with a polite expression 
or eegret the resignation of the Eev. Brewin Grant. 
This appeared first in the Sheffield and Rotherliam Independent ^ June 13, 1868. 
It was a pure fabrication of Mr. Bobert Leader, the editor of that paper, 
or fabricated at his instigation, or by his responsible agents, Contrary to the 
plain truth of an official communication, written, signed, and taken to the Inde- 
pendent office by Mr. "William Bissett, of Broomgrove, Sheffield, treasurer and 
deacon of my church. 

This is the original notice :— ' ^ 

The Bev. Beewin Grant, B.A. — At a Church Meeting of the Ceme- 
.. tery Boad Congregational Church, r held on Wednesday evening it was '- 
- unanimously resolved, that the church regretted that in consequence 

- Of MR. GRANT'S UNCHANGEABLE CONVICTION OF THE NECESSITY OF 

his public work in relation to Bitualism and Bomanism, they were 
obliged to lose his services : and that a memorial, expressive of 
their regret be prepared . and presented to him. Mr. Grant preaches 
his farewell sermon to-morrow evening. 
This true account appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph June 13, 1868* ■- 

- Mr. Leader Was furnished with the same, in the same hand- writing, but he chose 
to falsify the news in order to furnish an untruth for his few semi-denominational 
and semi-religious " Exchanges," such as the Nonconformist which quoted it, and 
Would never correct it, but adds more falsehoods since : as, that I am a State- 
Church lecturer, which the English Independent with equal liberality endorses, 

though BOTH EDITORS KNOW BETTER. 

The same libel having been inserted in the Leeds Mercury, I sent the true 
statement with a private note expressing my confidence that Mr. Baines would 
correct the injurious report referred to, but I was mistaken ; the editors of that 
paper did not think it was " an injurious report," for Mr. Baines also is a 
"country member" of the Union Committee! 

" Mr. Gladstone's ' suspensory bill ' suspended honour, and truth, and courtesy; 
and his semi-religious defenders are obliged to asperse any independent Dissenter, 
lest their readers should see through their trick and their partizanship, in which, 
from their one idea of anti-state churchism,* they blindly sell their country's 
religion and liberties to those who use them and despise them. But Dissenters 
are beginning to see through it, and when they do use their eyes they will under- 
stand the truthful character of their scrupulous semi-religious Gladstonian editors. 

98IW 3&0& 

• foitolovarc 

Chapter XXVIII. 

WHAT MB. GLADSTONE SAID OF ME, AND WHAT 
I SAID IN REPLY, TO HIM. 

During my lecture on the Irish Church — " An English Dissenter '$ 
-view of it " — all others having failed to answer, Mr. Gladstone was 
appealed to, and instead of getting to learn intelligently what I said, 

* Which they have abandoned in practice and principle to receive State pay for 
Denominational schools. 

nqqa itsm ^q no 






251 

he wrote a confirmation of my leading argument. This being put 
round the liberal papers, and gloried in as "the Rev. Brewin 
Grant Extinguished," I at last wrote and circulated very exten- 
sively the following, which is still useful. 

MR. GLADSTONE AND THE REV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A. 

The Rev.' Brewin Grant, B.A., presents his compliments to the 
Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and begs most respectfully to call his atten- 
tion to a letter lately going the round of the papers, purporting to 
be Mr. Gladstone's answer to the Rev. Brewin Grant's lectures on 
the Irish Church. 

Mr. Grant would rejoice, for Mr. Gladstone's sake, to find the 
letter a forgery, but fears — from other acknowledged instances — 
that it is only another specimen of Mr. Gladstone's epistolary con- 
tributions to electioneering literature, to be classed with that 
honourable gentleman's East Worcestershire letter, and his curious 
reply to the Rev. A. A. Rees, of Sunderland. 

Mr. Gladstone's latest development of this kind, as stated in the 
Nonconformist, October 7th, the English Independent, October 8th, 
the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, October 3rd, the Yorkshire Post and 
Leeds Intelligencer, October 1st, is here given verbatim : — 

Mr. Gladstone on Irish Disendowment. — On Monday evening 
week a public meeting was held at Ilkestone, when a lecture was 
delivered by the Rev. W. Mitchell on the Irish Church, in reply to 
one given on the previous Tuesday evening by Mr. Brewin Grant. 
The secretary of the liberal committee, Mr. Wright Lissett, read a 
letter he had received from Mr. Gladstone, in reply to one addressed 
to him on the subject of Mr. Grant's lecture. The letter was as 
follows :— "Hawarden, North Wales, Sept. 27, 1868.— Sir,— I feel 
a cordial interest in your Derbyshire elections, alike on account of 
your candidates, of the abusive attacks which have been made on 
that wise and excellent man the Duke of Devonshire, and of the 
revolutionary doctrines concerning property which appear to have 
been put forth, under Conservative auspices, in your quarter. 
Mr. Brewin Grant requires no reply from me, nor (I should think) 
much from any one, for I see he vehemently condemns me because 
I refused outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion. That was a 

MOTION WHICH PLEDGED THE LEGISLATURE TO GIVE NOTHING TO 

Roman Catholics, but left it free to give to Unitarians, Jews, 
Mahometans, and Mormons. Mr. Brewin Grant seems to think 
differently from the thousands of his brethren who have cheered me 
on by their approval. As he has, no doubt, a respect for minorities, 



Hft! 

I- recommend to hini and to yon the excellent charge of the Bishop ' 
of Fredericton, in New Brunswick, who has been disestablished, and 
says, ' I would not wish it otherwise.' There, too, he describes 
the Boman Catholics as the most numerous body of Christians. — I 
remain, W. E. Gladstone." 

On this attempt to answer, or seem to answer, his lectures, the 
Bev. Brewin Grant observes, — 

- 1. Mr. Gladstone should have stated what it was that he pro- 
fessed to reply to, and through what medium of information he 
had qualified himself to honour " Mr. Brewin Grant" by name, and 
in so courteous a style. Was it the Ilkestone liberal committee's 
representations that Mr. Gladstone replied to ? 

2. It would be inferred from Mr. Gladstone's letter, that the 
Bev. Brewin Grant had been advancing some " revolutionary doc- 
trines" respecting the Duke of Devonshire's share in Irish Church 
property, which Mr. Gladstone is too just to sequestrate. No doubt 
this is a tender point, but Mr. Gladstone should not have referred 
to it, since the Rev. Brewin Grant chivalrously omitted attacking 
the weak place ; and was innocent of any reference to, much less 
any " abusive attacks on, that wise and excellent man the Duke of 
Devonshire," whose large "vested interests" in Irish Church pro- 
perty, in tithes and patronage, would have been better defended by 
Mr. Gladstone's silence. 

3. When Mr. Gladstone said — "Mr. Brewin Grant requires no 
answer from me, nor (I should think) much from any one," he gave 
a good reason for not writing Ids letter, and also a sly rebuke to 
" the Bev. Wm. Mitchell, and Mr. Wright Lissett, the secretary of 
the liberal committee," for their pains in getting Mr. Gladstone 
and Mr. Wright to aid in this work of supererogation. It should 
however be admitted that the qualifying word " much," is the usual 
"suspensory" style that leaves open a possible defence of a little 
reply, but not "much," which latter is not " much " expected by 
the humble individual whom Mr. Gladstone condescends to notice 
even in this little way. Certainly it is true that " Mr. Brewin Grant 
requires no reply from Mr. Gladstone," never having asked for such 
a thing, and having no right to demand it ; but why Mr. Gladstone 
should inform the world of this simple circumstance "requires" 
some explanation. 

4. The eeason for Mr. Gladstone saying that "Mr. Grant 
requires no answer from him, nor much from any one,'" is a curiosity : 
— " for I see he vehemently condemns me because I refused 
outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's niotiom" What " outright" 



253 

means, in this case, is not apparent : but when Mr. Gladstone 
" refused outright," he betrayed the Liberationists, and showed 
that he "refused outright " their professed doctrine of impartial 
disendowment ; and as the Church Times, May 16, observed, made 
up for his forced abandonment of Maynooth, by leaving himself 
" perfectly at liberty to give the Roman Catholics an endowment of 
ten times the amount." 

- Mr. Gladstone may see this argued, under the head of " the 
testing point" in a pamphlet entitled, " Gladstone and Justice to 
Ireland : The Liberal cry examined on Liberal principles," by the 
Rev. Brewin Grant. 

5. The fatal point in Mr. Gladstone's letter is the account 
which he gives of Mr. Aytoun's motion. He says — " That was a 
motion which pledged the legislature to give nothing to the 
Roman Catholics, [namely, out of the Protestant Church fund] : 
but left it [the legislature] free to give to Unitarians, Jews, 
Mahometans, and Mormans." The first part of the sentence vin- 
dicates Mr. Grant's argument, and the second insults Mr. Gladstone's 
allies. For what Mr. Grant argued was, that Mr. Aytoun wished 
impartially to disendow all ; but Mr. Gladstone wished to disendow 
the Protestant Church in order to endow the Romanists with the 
proceeds ; and that honourable gentleman admits it, in saying that 
he "refused outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion," "which 
pledged the legislature to give nothing [out of the Irish Church 
funds] to the Roman Catholics." Therefore, Mr. Gladstone's object 
was, a transference of endowments, not their removal : accor- 
dingly, he " refused outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion" 
"- which pledged the legislature" against this transference of 
property. 

6. But in the next place, Mr. Gladstone having admitted what 
he was interested in contradicting, namely, that he opposed strenu- 
ously a measure that would have prevented Roman Catholics having 
Irish Church property added to their large taxation grants for 
education, goes on to state that " this motion pledged the legis- 
lature to give nothing [of the confiscated estate] to the Roman 
Catholics, but left it free to give to Unitarians, Jews, Mahometans, 
and Mormons." 

What will the Unitarians say to this courteous classification of 
Mr. Gladstone's most ardent and enlightened admirers, as if the 
very idea of their sharing in educational grants from Irish Church 
funds would outrage the feelings of the country ? "What will his 
Jewish friend Mr. Alderman Solomons say, who is keeping his bed 



254 

warm as a sleeping partner at Greenwich, in case he is not allowed 
" to sleep here to-night" by the inhospitable South-west Lancashire 
hotel keeper ?*■ Mr. Solomans gives himself out as the one who em- 
bodies in his own person civil and religious equality, and yet he is 
among the people whom it is, by implication, monstrous to allow to 
participate in the sequestrated revenues of the Irish Church ! 

7. Whether Mr. Aytoun's motion would have permitted this 
enormity of allowing Unitarians, Jews, and the numerous Mahome- 
tans and Mormans in Ireland to share in the educational funds 
transferred from the Irish Church, is, to speak softly, rather pro- 
blematical. But if this were the enormity whieh Mr. Gladstone 
desired to prevent, by way of compliment to his allies of the Unita- 
rian and Jewish persuasions, he had an unequivocal opportunity of 
showing his abhorrence of people who have as much right to share 
in public educational grants as anybody else. 

The English Independent, which is a thick-and-thin Gladstonian 
organ, though it unwisely inserted Mr. Gladstone's fatal letter, 
acknowledges the following: — " Then Mr. Greene proposed as an 
amendment, that no part of the endowments of the Anglican church 
[in Ireland] be applied to the endowment of the institutions of othee 
religious communities." Here all were excluded, even Mr. Glad- 
stone's particular friends " the Unitarians, Jews, Mahometans, 
and Mormons," But did this satisfy Mr. Gladstone ? No ! 
Because it included Eomanists in the exclusion. 

The English Independent does not say — as Mr. Gladstone's late 
letter would imply — that he accepted this desired exclusion of 
Unitarians, &c, but "Mr. Gladstone again peotested against vague 
pledges at this stage." What will that honourable gentleman's 
friends now say as to his modern horror of Jews and Mahometans 
and Unitarians and Mormons sharing in the Irish Church funds, 
when he " protested against " preventing it ? 

Mr. Gladstone "requires no answer from Mr. Brewin Grant, nor 
(I should think) much from any one ;" all that is required is that 
the country should understand him. 

Even Mr. Miall says — " What Mr. Gladstone needs at the present 
moment is not the criticism but the support of all Nonconformists :" 
but they will not long support a man who cannot stand " criticism," 
and who, when he attempts to exercise it, lays himself open, as in 
this late epistle. 

8. Mr. Gladstone, however, has his consolation : " Mr. Brewin 
Grant seems to think differently from the thousands of his brethren 
who have cheered me on by their ap proval." 

• Now a fulfilled prophecy. 



255 

i, jThese " cheers ;" may be 'required, and may support Mr. Glad- 
stone against " Mr, Bre win Grant's" criticisms, but they will not 
answer them, and will not hold water long. The Apostle Paul 
& seemed to think differently from his brethren " when he said 
— " ..At my first answer no man stood: with me, but all men forsook 
me."— (II Tim., iv., 16.) . 

i Perhaps some would stand with him afterwards ; though this 
would not affect the question. 

; Mr. Gladstone having — as the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelli- 
gencer . points out — first taunted Mr. Grant with being in the 
minority, next asks him to respect the authority of a minority, 
which Mr. Gladstone himself ignores. 

What Mr. Grant respects is consistency of profession and of con- 
duct, a real principle of right, and a practical plan of action founded 
on it, and these are the two things which Mr. Gladstone lacks in 
his Irish Church agitation. 

As Mr. Gladstone has done the Rev. Brewin Grant the honour 
of singling him out for refutation, the Dissenting minister thus dis- 
tinguished takes this opportunity of calling Mr. Gladstone's atten- 
tion to the published statement of the Rev. Brewin Grant's argument 
on the subject, given at large in "Gladstone and Justice to Ireland: 
the Liberal Cry Examined on Liberal Principles. A Repertory of 
Arguments for all True Liberals, Liberationists, Protestants, and 
Patriots : by the Rev. Brewin Grant, B. A., Congregational Minister 
of Twenty-five Years' standing, and Author of the First Anti- State 
Church or Liberation Society's Prize Tract—' The Church of Christ 
WWhat is it ? ' — Sheffield : Pawson and Brailsford." * 
: P.S. — Mr. Gladstone was properly suspensory on the Telegraph 
bill, saying respecting it exactly what he should have said about 
his own Irish Church resolutions, namely : — "It was impossible 
for the house to complete the operation by passing another 
bill — -first, because they did not know the facts, and second, because 
the- right hon. gentleman ivoidd not under the circumstances 
enter upon such a financial operation. That would be a matter 
of comparative insignificance if the question were to be consi- 
dered by the same body next year; but as it would not be, it 
was desirable to understand clearly the position in which the new 
parliament would be placed ; and this parliament had no right to 

* Mr. Elliott Stock, Paternoster-row, whose name I used from custom, as 
my publisher, suppressed this pamphlet by refusing to supply it ; but he is a 
liberal, and wrote threatening me with legal consequences if I sold any more with 
his name on ! 



256 

put the members of tlie new parliament in the position of having it 
said to them, ' You are not free ; you are bound by the assent of those 
ivho have gone before you.' The new parliament would not, could 
not, and ought not to admit that it was bound. It must have not 
only a legal but a moral freedom of choice.'" Times, July 22. 

Is Mr. Gladstone aware that these were exactly the reasons why 
he should not have wasted a session in trying to bind a new par- 
liament by the dictum of an effete one, while this same dying- 
parliament " did not know the facts" and was waiting for the 
evidence of that commission of enquiry which Mr. Gladstone's 
friends had instituted? 



Broomhall Pari, Sheffield, Oct. 13, 1868. 



Chapter XXIX. 

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN: OR, 

DISLOYALTY TO MR. GLADSTONE AND ITS PENALTY, 

"MINISTERIAL DEPOSITION" AND 

" EXCOMMUNICATION." 

TO THE OFFICEES AND COMMITTEE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 

Gentlemen, — Having been all my life connected with the 
Independent denomination, having spent seven years in training 
for, and twenty-five years in the exercise of the ministry in con- 
nection with it, is my "name" now "cast out as evil" by some 
secret decree, for which your "Year Book" editor alleges your 
authority. 

I still hope yet to be installed by your acknowledgment in that 
position for the loss of which your authority is alleged by your editor, 
as sanctioned by your "resolution" of Feb. 15, 1869. I cannot but 
suppose that some of you are entirely ignorant of this transaction, 
and will be as much astonished as the world outside ; but so long as 
you do not protest and secure me reparation, but like Dr. Falding, 
of Rotherham, permit your names to be used in the Year Book as 
the authority for my "ministerial deposition," you are responsible 
both in law and morals. 

Your "Year Book" publicly accuses Dr. Falding of sending 
a false return, and he privately accuses the editor of falsifying the 
return which he sent. Between you I am made a victim. 






257, 

The following letter to you, written i directly after I discovered 
—for you did not condescend to inform me of — your act of pro- 
fessional decapitation was inserted in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 
January 12th, and copied into many other papers, with this preli- 
minary title and note. 

THE DISSENTING " SCREW." 

The Committee of the Congregational Union has invented a new 
instrument for the private decapitation, without notice or trial, of 
ministers, who venture to have and to express an opinion on public 
matters contrary to that of " the wire-pullers" of the sect. The 
following letter is from the victim for whose advantage this instru- 
ment was invented. He must now feel that his heretical and 
contumacious pamphlet — " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland; 
the Liberal Cry Examined on Liberal Principles" * — is liberally 
answered : — 

TO THE COMMITTEE OP THE CONGKEGATIONAL UNION. 

Sheffield, January 11th, 1869. 

Gentlemen, — As you have introduced a new law into our denomination, by 
which you have put it into the power of every district secretary to omit the name 
of any minister resident in his district, and on this omission you have assumed 
to alter the standing list, to which you had only authority to add, according to 
established custom ; and as by this new rule you depose every minister at the 
close of the year, and recognize by recording and re-enrolling only those who are 
newly endorsed by the district secretary, who thus makes and unmakes ministers 
as he chooses ; and, whereas I am the chief, if not the only intended, victim of 
this more than Episcopal or even Papal power, by which both my spiritual and 
legal rights are seriously infringed and my usefulness and prospects endangered, 
I therefore, in the first instance, apply to you for explanation and immediate 
redress of this great grievance and injury ; for which I can discover no other 
motive than your revenge for the position which, as a Dissenter, a Protestant, 
and an Englishman, I took, and had a right to take, on the Irish Church policy 
of Mr. Gladstone. 

But apart from your motive, it is enough to show that the unauthorized plan 
you have put into operation is contrary to the practices and principles of Congre- 
gationalism, and therefore you are in every way responsible for the injury which 
you have illegally inflicted. 

That your self-originated plan is contrary to the principles of Independency is 
plain from a few facts wherein you acknowledge it. When your agents had 
capriciously excluded the P^ev. Isaac Vaughan's name, and thereby hastened his 
decease, you proposed that the Assembly in Sheffield, 1866, should request the 
committee to consider the best methods of adding names to, or removing them 
from, the list. This general motion — which your secretary sent beforehand to 
me, in reply to my letters on the subject, was proposed by you to avoid inquiry 
into the injustice of the particular case. 

• To be had by post, of the author, for seven stamps. Address, the Rev. 
Brewin Grant, B.A., Sheffield. 



258 

It was a part of the motion that the committee of the Congregational •Union 
should report to the next assembly in London, in May, 1867. But, instead -of 
■waiting to report to that meeting, and gain its sanction to any suggested changes, 
you assumed the right to legislate, made a new law, and printed it in the Y^alr 
Book six months before the meeting assembled to which it was your duty to 
report. You thus surreptitiously legalised the tyranny that was questioned, 'and, 
making the iniquity into a law, usurped the position of dictators to the denomi- 
nation. 'When L enquired at the Manchester meetings by what authority the 
power of decapitating ministers, without notice or trial, was foisted into the Year 
Book, every obstacle was put in my way to prevent the question coming before 
the meeting; and your two secretaries declared at last, with great confidence* 
that the obnoxious law had been endorsed, if not proposed and passed, in the 
May meeting in London. One of them afterwards published a letter to acknow- 
ledge that the Assembly had not been appealed to on the subject, and promising 
that at the next meeting an opportunity should be afforded of discussing the 
matter. Instead of this, the change was referred to in your report as an accom- 
plished fact, and the only point for the meeting to consider was the condoning of 
the omission to report it before. It was assumed that the law itself was right, 
and that the committee had a right to make it. That part of your report was 
rejected by the Assembly, as recorded in the English Independent, but ignored 
in. our Year Book. Your secretary, at the suggestion of the chairman— v?ho 
expressed his surprise at your illegal course — referred the matter to the next 
meeting at Leeds, and there it was ignored entirely. 

Since then you have gone further, and prescribed that each new year only 
such names shall be printed as " Independent ministers in England," &c, as the 
district secretaries may send up to the editor. This gave Dr. Falding,- of 
Masbro' College, an opportunity of not sending my name, and I think your rule 
is made for the sole purpose — to sacrifice me on the altar of Dissenting persecu- 
tion; and thus at once to relieve yourselves from all further remonstrance, and 
to execute summary vengeance on my failure to worship the idol of the hour, 
Mr. Gladstone. 

But you have not escaped either remonstrance or responsibility by this second 
false step to retrieve your first. 

If I had joined a secular club, which by its constitution and rules offered me 
certain advantages, the law of the land would come in as arbitrator* to eoforce 
the stipulated conditions and set aside any contrary rules. 

I will tell you now how far your course tends to injure me, on the same 
principle, but in an infinitely higher degree. I announced myself as intending 
for a time to engage in a general ministry, in which I should preach special 
sermons on Sundays, and on week evenings lecture on Bomanism, Bitualism, 
and Bationalism. To free myself for this I gave up my pastorate. 

As to preaching, I may now be told that my own denomination rejects Me '; 
and it may be imagined that there was some moral ground for it. The same may 
operate to prevent my lecturing ; and in case I should seek to re-settle as a 
minister, as intended, the same would bar my progress — "He is not on the 
list of our congregational ministers." If, thus rejected by you, who usurp the 
place of the denomination, I should seek to preach the gospel in some other 
really independent church, any body of Christians to whom I should offer myself 
might naturally make the same objection. 

These are the direct and immediate injuries you have inflicted on one who 
has the same right to be on the list as any one of you. But further, there are aids 
to retiring pastors, and subsequent advantages to their families, if require'd ; -and 



259 

from all these opportunities of usefulness, benefits, and repute, you have, as far 
•.as you can, debarred me by the illegal procedure already described ; and it is for 
this deprivation— which I learned only from your printed book — that I ask your 
immediate, unequivocal explanation and reparation. 

I have equally demanded of Dr. Falding, to whom you gave the power to erase 
my name, or, rather, on the pretext ofivhose amision to send it you presumed to 
erase it, what reasons he had for his share in this transaction, which tends to 
make the profession of religion the scorn of the world. 

. The Roman cardinal's aspiration to "conquer an imperial race" does not 
seem so extravagant, when we consider that the present leading statesman has 
introduced into the Queen's Privy Council the most active Romanist, who lately 
proposed that our next monarch should not make the Protestant declarations 
which assured England of her liberties. But this is nothing in comparison with 
the fact that the committee of the Congregational Union is the Pope's execu- 
tioner, for all in that denomination who shall with any effect oppose the present 
Roman invasion of England, Ireland, and Scotland; nor will the Pope's generals, 
Drs. Manning and Cullen,./mcZ much liberty to conquer in England, for its 
loudest friends have smitten it ; having first been false to Christ's honour in 
abetting the spiritual Eenianism that would wickedly depose Him, it is a fitting 
preparation for tiampling on human liberty, which flourishes in perfection only 
under the sacred shadow of His throne. 

How far the assumed leaders of Dissenters are betraying them into a position 
false to Christianity and liberty, I have too abundant and sad materials of showing, 
in the preparation for "The Dissenting World ; an Autobiography," which will 
be ready by the opening of Parliament. 

Besides the effect upon the nation at large, I do not doubt that it will find 
some amongst us, as Independents, "who have not bowed the knee to Baal;" 
and though you may unhappily be so eager to " receive honour one of another" 
as to make it morally impossible for you to " believe" or acknowledge the truth, 
I trust that God, in His mercy, will not only defend me against your policy, but 
sustain me in honour and fidelity, still to witness more effectually for the truth 
•of Christ and the liberty of man, so that to all sympathising friends I may be able 
to say — "I would ye sbould understand, brethren, that the things which have 
happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel. " — 
Phil. i„ 12. 

Yours faithfully, 

BREWIN GRANT. 

The noble and independent editor of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph 
whose industry, genius, and courage have achieved a marvellous 
success in a few years, and who first broke down that terrorism, which 
the former cowardice and compliance of others had fostered in Shef- 
field and its neighbourhood, and whose high moral tone and literary 
culture promise to lead and sustain all other influences in elevating 
this vast population, and redeeming the district from that reproach 
which the supineness and cupidity of the assumed leaders and 
guides of the people had too much encouraged, came forward in this 
crisis of my life, and voluntarily gave the following testimony, at a 
time when even common justice was a rarity and a consolation :— 



" The Independents do themselves an injustice in having no 
church courts in which to try questions affecting the character and 
standing of their ministers. They appear to have no tribunal before 
which to arraign the preachers of their persuasion. A minister of 
stainless character and superior ability — a kind father, an excellent 
husband, a spirited citizen, a genial and generous friend, a powerful 
writer, an able debater, may any day find his name erased from 
the list of recognised ministers, and himself treated as an outcast for 
reasons unknown to him. An Independent minister, distinguished 
by qualities of head and heart which stamp him a superior man, 
may be stealthily accused, secretly denounced, and as secretly de- 
posed from the rank of an acknowledged pastor before he has the 
slightest chance of knowing who were his accusers, or what was the 
nature of the charge brought against him. Such a system of pro- 
ceeding to pass sentence in private outrages every sense of justice, 
and is open to the grossest abuse. We do not like to use strong 
language about matters of this kind, yet what language can be too 
strong ? ' He who judgeth a cause before he heareth it is not wise.' 
In the law courts of the land no one, however poor, however damaged 
in character, however vile, can be treated as some pastors of ad- 
mitted ability and no small reputation have of late been treated in 
this part of England. The thief caught in the act, the ticket-of- 
leave man pinioned in the house into which he has penetrated as a 
burglar, the murder taken red-handed, are duly informed of the 
charge against them, have a fair allowance of time in which to pre- 
pare their defence, are assisted by counsel, in order that no mental 
dulness of theirs may place them at a disadvantage, are permitted 
to see their accusers face to face, are tried by jurymen who have no 
personal interest in the question, and are at liberty to object to any 
juror who is suspected of entertaining any private feeling against 
them. For them everything is open and above-board. The full 
glare of daylight is let in upon the proceedings. All irrelevant 
matter, all hearsay and gossip, all indications of animus, all attempts 
to strain a point for the conviction are sternly rebuked and 
firmly arrested. The jurymen are not even permitted to know that 
the accused have been previously convicted, lest the knowledge of 
the facts should prejudice their minds against the prisoners. Such 
is the treatment to which even the worst of criminals are entitled 
under secular law. But an Independent minister is treated so 
much worse than a criminal that a sentence of ministerial decapita- 
tion may be issued against him in his absence without so much as 
a pretence of trial, and without letting him know either the names 



261 

of the instigators or the nature of the accusation. What a pre- 
mium this upon the development of personal pique ! It is not a 
word and a blow with the blow first ; it is simply the blow without the 
word. The victim is stabbed from behind, and knows not in the 
darkness whose is the hand that has driven in the weapon. All 
that he knows is that he is wounded — wounded deeply, wounded, 
it may be, fatally — wounded, not improbably, by men who would 
•have hesitated to meet him in fair fight, face to face. If such a 
system of dealing with respectable and highly intelligent men who 
believe themselves to be honest is right, the rules of our law courts 
must be strangely wrong, and if on the other hand it is not right, 
parliament should grant us another commission, with full power to 
sit in Sheffield, and institute a most searching enquiry into some 
recent cases of ecclesiastical trade outrages. Let us calmly take 
an example. In William Beoadhead's case there were ex- 
tenuating circumstances. He at least warned the men who were 
incurring his anger. In his case there was a sort of trial before 
sentence was passed, nor did he take any measures until his 
private law court had pronounced the suggestive words, "some- 
thing must be done." Can we say as much in reference to 
the rattened Independent minister, whose account of his treat- 
ment appeared in our Tuesday's paper? That gentleman's 
position is, if we understand it aright, something like this. He 
has the misfortune to differ from the majority of his class in a 
matter of opinion. The difference is not one of morals, nor is it 
one of faith. His private character is irreproachable ; his religious 
belief has not been called in question ; his peculiarity is one of 
purely political opinion, and the remarkable thing about his political 
opinion is that it is nothing new, even among the highest authori- 
ties of the body to which he belongs. What he thinks and feels 
on the subject of Protestantism in Ireland is precisely what some 
of the most distinguished Nonconformist divines have thought and 
felt on the same subject. Having a mind of his own, and a strength 
of will which makes him speak his mind, he does speak it. He 
declines to conceal his convictions ; he dares to dissent from the 
political policy of the majority ; and being by nature a very bold 
man, he dares even to practise dissent amongst Dissenters. In 
stating this much we are not endorsing his opinions. It is sufficient 
for us that they are his opinions. Has he a right to think his own 
thoughts ? Is he at liberty to say what he thinks ? These points 
ought really to be settled. If there is somewhere or other a politi- 
cal Pope, and an infallible political creed, the authority of that 



Pope should be announced by proclamation, and the necessity of 
believing in that creed, and of cursing with more than Athanasian 
vigour all who do not believe, should be made known to all candi- 
dates for the ministerial office, so that they at least may take their 
politics in prepared pulp, as babies take spoon meat, and may, in 
the event of refusal, know what is before them." — Sheffield Daily 
Telegraph, January 14, 1869. 

A copy of my letter to the committee of the Congregational Union, 
having been sent to a friend who is on the committee, led to the 
following correspondence, which with the preliminary notice here 
given, appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, January 23rd. 
This letter from a Ministerial member of the committee contains 
such sort of defence as that body may possibly adopt. How far it 
is valid, is seen by the answer :— 

iT " 
THE DISSENTING " SCREW" NUMBER TWO. 

The Congregationalists having illegally excommunicated the Rev. Brewin 
Grant, B.A., because the Liberationists could not answer his arguments in his 
lectures, recorded in his pamphlet, " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland,'^ -which 
foretold all that is now taking place — the demands of the Roman cardinals, 
exposed for a second time by the Rev. W. Arthur, of the Wesleyan denomina- 
tion; we inserted Mr. Grant's letter to the Congregational Union in the 
Telegraph of January 12th, and we expressed our views on the matter in an 
article inserted January 14th. We are now favoured with a reply from a 
ministerial member of the committee of the Congregational Union, and Mr. 
Grant's answer thereto. We think that Churchmen should form a "Liberation 
Society for the freedom of Congregationalism from all union patronage and con- 
trol," in kindly answer to a similar Dissenting society to "liberate" Churchmen 
"from all state patronage and control." 

LETTEK FROM A MINISTERIAL MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE CONGRE- 
GATIONAL UNION. 

" January 18, 1869. 

" My dear Mr. Grant, — I now write because a long friendship prevents a cold 
silence, but with no desire for controversy. Let me say that until I read your 
letter I was in ignorance of the omission of your name from the Year Book. At 
the same time I feel bound to express my belief that the motives you attribute to 
the committee in the matter are altogether unreal. I never was on a committee 
where there was more independent speaking. From what I have seen of Dr. 
Smith and Mr. Ashton I am certain they are incapable of acting from mere per- 
sonal considerations in such an important matter. 

"While sincerely hoping justice may be done to you, I cannot see where blame 
can attach to the committee. The Union passes rules for the guidance of the 
editorial secretary, and he has no choice but compliance. If those locally con- 
nected with the case do not send up the name how can the committee help that ? 
It may be an argument for altering the rules, but I cannot see how you can lay 
the blame on the committee. Besides, you have another mode of having your 
name inserted in the Year Book ; if I mistake not the signatures of five brethren 
insure it. 



" It would be an evil day for Independency if a difference of view oil political' 
questions ceased to be accepted as a personal right. 

"No one more than I did lamented your action during the recent election ; 
out it never crossed my mind to question your absolute right to take as an In- 
dependent minister the position you did. 

" I may wish, an opponent to be on my side, but if be could see bis way into 
believing tbat Disraeli is a statesman of high honour and deep religious principle, 
while Gladstone is a Jesuit and an adventurer* I know of nothing in Independency 
to prevent him proclaiming his views wherever he can find hearers or readers. 

" I suppose your letter will come before the next committee meeting. ■ For 
Auld Lang Syne' I will try and be there. I should like much to have a long, 
chat with you over matters to be looked at from many sides ; one cannot do this 
In a letter. ■■■ 

" Now, show that you believe a man may be your friend, and not on the 
high road to perdition, because he does not see eye to eye with yourself. 

•""" "Tours affectionately, 

" The Kev. Brewm Grant, B.A., 
Broomhall Park, Sheffield." 

niweit. v 

"Jan. 20, 1868. 
" My dear Sir, — If you had favoured me with your opinion as to the ' motives* 
either of the committee or the editor, I might have compared it with my own. 

* It is for them, however, to tell the world what their ' considerations' may have 
been, whether 'personal' or political. You ' cannot see where blame attaches 
to the committee ; the Union passes rules for the guidance of the editorial secre- 
tary, and he has no choice but compliance.' Did the Union pass rules, or did 
the committee or editoral secretary forge them ? I suppose you have not seen 
the Year Book, and have forgotten my letter. 'If those locally concerned do not 
send up the name, how can the committee help it ?' Why need my name be i sent 
^up' when it has been ' up' for 26 years ? Who are the committee that they should 
take my name or yours off the standing general list, at their caprice, because a 
local secretary at his, omits the duty of remembering that I live in his district ? 
^This is not 'an argument for altering the rules,' but against ' altering them,' and that 
surreptitiously. - The rules were good till arbitrarily altered. That five 
brethren's signatures might insure the re-insertion of my name is poor comfort, 
when I am traduced as expelled, which perhaps, is no greater indignity than to be 
reduced to receive their recommendatory signatures. But the newly-invented rule 
Which repeals all rules, does not leave even this resource. See our new Year Book. 
You say it would be an evil day for Independency when political liberty is de- 
nied, and that you admit my ' right as an Independent minister' to take any position 
as to the Irish Church. I know from a wide . experience that your opinion is 
singular, and that the English Independent's repudiation of me as a minister on 
this very account, and its acceptance of the newly-forged rule as a chance for 'a 
judicious weeding of the list,' was only a part op that general persecution 
which culminated in the erasure of my name. I am thankful for the large liberty 
of opinion respecting Messrs. Disraeli and Gladstone. I doubt not you imagine it 
4 the very image' of my Irish Church position. I have nothing to do with either, 
but with measures. But I neither believe in the virulent abuse of Mr. Disraeli, 
which is orthodox liberality, nor in the hysterical adulation of 'the heaven -born' 
and ' high -stepping 1 Gladstone, whose progress is the perpetual motion of 
self-contradiction. Nor do I believe in currying favour with priests to put down 



264 

Fenianisni by lowering Protestantism, which Fenians do not care about. I am no less 
amazed at your concluding wish, that I may ' show that I can believe a man to 
be my friend, and not on the high road to perdition, because he does not see eye 
to eye with me.' This is what I have wanted hundreds of my friends to show, and 
they resent my want of ' seeing eye to eye' by every insult and indignity and 
injury; but none more than the committee of which you are a member. 
Nothing has occurred by which I am disqualified from being recognised by them" 
as a Congregational minister, except my not ' seeing eye to eye ' with the 
idolators of Mr. Gladstone, no one of whom knows what he means ; and in this 
sense he is truly oracular. If I had been on the other side, or could have been 
answered, I should have been in our Year Book as heretofore. 

'" If you put it wholly on Dr. Falding's shoulders, as not having ' sent up' 
my address, whose presumed omission is made by your new rule a pretext for 
erasure from the general list, you can account for his courage to do such an act, 
only on this supposition, that as the leading Liberal spirits had abused me 
because they could not answer me, it would be a grateful sacrifice to their vanity 
to immolate one who was too much for their ability. If ' I am become a fool in 
glorying, ye have compelled me ; for when I ought to be commended of you' — 
as standing up for our Dissenting and Protestant principles, which are both 
betrayed, as I have proved, — ye have expelled me instead. If I had been a 
naturalist or a Neologian I could have been, so far as my sentiments are con- 
cerned, a professor in one of our colleges, or a member of the Congregational 
Union Committee. 

" I might safely and advantageously deny Christ among you, but the worship 
of Mr. G ladstone is the new Uniformity Act of Nonconformists which is enforced 
by Ejection". You see that if you are not controversial, I am, and perhaps you 
would be if, like me, you were cast out of the synagogue. People who have not 
the tooth-ache do not-always sympathise very deeply with one who has, and they 
are scarcely fair judges as to the intensity with which he expresses his feelings. 
In a great sorrow there are few persons who can be so calm and self-possessed as 
those who are not sufferers ; and it is a general rule of human nature that we are 
enabled to bear with great equanimity the injuries endured by other people. Yet 
I am sometimes surprised that those who are exposed to the like evils, and are 
disgraced, and their professed principles dishonoured, by that submission which 
is perpetration, do not for their own safety and credit shake off the sloth and 
servility which invite and deserve attack. It is for you now to solve this problem 
by going straight into the business, and so aiding the committee to answer my 
appeal by no evasion or reference to forged rules, which are themselves the worst 
part of the grievance, or to the personal responsibility of their agents, but by a 
substantial act of justice , that shall recover their requtation by repairing the 
injury thev have inflicted on your friend, 

"BREWIN GRANT." 

With the preceding letters, the Daily Sheffield Telegrayh leader, 
I sent to the committee the following terms, which were transmitted 
through Samuel Moeley, Esq. Considering the injury, the terms 
were moderate : — 

A public acknowledgment in twelve newspapers, to be selected by me, and in a 
fly-sheet to be attached to unissued copies of the present Year Book, the same to 
be repeated in the Year Book for 1870, stating on the part of the committee by 
their secretary : — That my name was illegally and unjustly omitted from the list 



265 

of accredited Congregational Ministers in the Year Book for 1869 ; that tho 
committee will regret if such omission be regarded as a stigma, or be employed 
to my disadvantage ; that I be at perfect liberty to publish such explanations as 
I may deem necessary to the removal of such misunderstandings as may have 
been occasioned or confirmed by this occurrence ; that the committee in such 
public acknowledgment of the error of erasure be perfectly free to repudiate any 
motives which may have been, or shall hereafter be attributed to them ; and that 
it be left to Samuel Morley, Esq., M.P., to adjudicate whether any, and if so, 
what pecuniary compensation be awarded for such losses and anxiety from uncer- 
tainty as may have occurred, or may be reasonably expected to occur, before the 
effects of this "ministerial deposition" be fully removed. 

The following answer is the only communication received from my 
deposers, who do not even say: — "And may the Lord have mercy on 
your soul, for there is no hope of mercy from this committee," 
but the bare, cold, insolent notification that they ratify the deed, is 
all that they could afford ; so that one of them can now write in his 
paper to this effect — " We need take no more notice of him, he is 
an outcast." I mean the one who at the commencement of the 
conspiracy wilfully changed a testimonial from my church into a 
libel by inuendo, which the other editor on the committee adopted, 
and when informed of its untruth declined to do me justice. That 
they should pass this resolution I do not wonder : — 

" Congregational Union of England and Wales, 

" 18, South-street, Finsbury, E.C., February 15, 1869. 
" To the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A. 
" Sir, — In the absence of my esteemed colleague,* the Rev. Dr. Smith, 
through indisposition, I am instructed by the committee to forward to you the 
following resolution passed unanimously this day : — 

" ' That Mr. Grant be informed, in reply to his letters, that the omission of 
his name from the Year Book of 1869 was not owing to any new regulation 
adopted by the committee of the Union, but was in accordance with the course 
which had been previously pursued in the preparation of the Year Book.' 

(i I am, sir, yours truly, " ROBERT ASHTON, Secretary." 

THE REY. BREWIN GRANT'S FINAL WORD TO THE COMMITTEE. 

" To the Committee or the Congregational Union. 

" Gentlemen, — The Rev. Robert Ashton, by your direction, sends me the 
following : — 

" ' That Mr. Grant be informed, in reply to his letters, that the omission of his 
name from the Year Book of 1869 was not owing to any new regulation adopted 
by the committee of the Congregational Union, but was in accordance with the 
course previously pursued in the preparation of the Year Book.' 

" 1. I shall be obliged if you will explain by what old regulation — (since you 
deny the new one, affirmed by your editor, page 400 of the Year Book for 1869) 
— you did this deed ? 

" 2. Secondly, I will thank you, when you inform me how it happened that 
since, as you say, ' the course' vaguely referred to was, ' previously pursued,' you 

* They colleague together. 



-did '.-'not 'previously pursue' it in my case? For instance : what happened 'be- 
tween your books for 1868 and 1869 to make the difference? Was, it opposition to 
Mr. Gladstone's policy ; and if not, what else ? 

" Perhaps the humblest brother may, in common decency, request this infor- 
mation from his deposers. m "V 

*' 3. I require you at once to return my papers contained in the book which 
Samuel Morley, Esq., sent to your meeting. The book is mine, and it is im- 
portant; to my case that it be produced. Mr. Ashton should either have returned 
it with his copy of your evasive and unfeeling resolution, or have told me where 
it is. 

" I regret for your sake, and that of Congregationalism and of Christian honour, 
liberty, and charity, that you force me to seek by other means that redress and 
justice which you fail to afford in reply to reasonable offers and remonstrances. 
If public law should fail, public opinion will mark your union as a secret proscrip- 
tion agency, and the precursor of the Inquisition in England. You avow no 
motive, and dare not ; you assign no reason, and cannot. If my case is not 
peculiar your case is still more disgraceful. Yours faithfully, 

" BEEWIN GRANT." 
- - 

— pi idd aiaftjssi 

3d of 
Chapter XXX. r & no 

WHEREIN DISSENTERS HAVE BEEN MISLED; WHERE- 
IN THEY ARE IN DANGER OF BEING- USED FOR 
WHAT THEY DISLIKE; AND HOW THEY ARE 
LOSING THE MORAL POWER TO OPPOSE IT. 

There are thousands of Dissenters who have had it dinned into 
ihem by reiterated assertions from those who have, happily, also 
distinctly repudiated what they perpetually affirm, namely, that the 
present Irish Church agitation is an Anti-State Church movement. 

So undoubtingly is this taken in, that every one who opposes Mr. 
Gladstone is regarded as a renegade Dissenter, and in heart a 
churchman and tory. But it is not considered that the Rev. Dr. 
Miller, the Rev. Mr. Hains, and other churchmen who take the 
opposite side, are false to State churchism; they are "men of pro- 
gress" who turn over to the " Liberals," while those who turn from 
" the Liberal party," to maintain liberal principles, are Judases 
and renegades if not turncoats. This at least will be admitted, 
that this is not the road in ivhich promotion lies. They who peril 
friendships and prospects, even if blind, may, by a stretch of liberal 
-charity, be regarded as honest. 

But such writers as Mr. Miall, who are not by me accused of 
being Romanists because they accidentally on a political question 



267 

join Paul Cullen, yet presume to call me " a State Church Lecturer'* 
because I honestly, on a politico-religious question, join those 
clergy who have not forgotten their protestantism. 

Now in order to justify clergymen of Gladstonian views, and to 
cover his proposal of a vote of confidence in two members of Parlia- 
ment, who had just repudiated the principles which Mr. MiAll leffc 
his pulpit to advocate, namely, Anti-State Churchism, Mr. Miali* 
discovered and printed this principle — " that neither the "Esfa'7" 
blishment of the Church of England nob the principle of church 
establishments was at issue now." '—Nonconformist, September 

30, 1868. / ■.■;:,■; .'■;•■;} 

If this be true, it is false to say that any Dissenter is inconsistent 
in taking either side on this confessedly neutral question. ,: v 

Mr. Turberville, of the English Independent, October 29, 18S8j 
said—- The present conflict does not at all turn upon the abstract 
right or wrong of establishments." Yet this writer coarsely told his 
readers that it was great presumption for me any longer to pretend 
to be a Congregational minister, or Dissenter, because I take a side 
on a question in which he says that neither dissent nor churchman- 
ship is involved ! 

The Congregational Union gave the same utterance in its paper 
on the Duty of Dissenters it said: that ■" many false issues' had 
been raised," and that we could not too strongly repudiate the notion 
that the present question involved " the righteousness or wisdom" 
of state-churches. 

Now this union, like the two editors quoted above, treats me as a 
renegade . Dissenter on what it calls- — aatf false issue." I cannot say 
whether the mistake of all three is from honest and sincere 
stupidity, or from a dictatorial or overbearing disposition to* 
tyranny. But I put the three .opinions on record, for the use of 
those who will know how to understand and to use them. For any 
of these parties, after such acknowledgments, to treat those Dissen- 
ters as - renegades who do not swallow Mr. Gladstone's $ti$\ 
undeveloped scheme, is either fatuity or hypocrisy. : ( 

Yet these men do not scruple to utter such atrocious sentiments 
as the following, which the English Independent, Dee. 3, 1868, and 
other liberal organs accepted without a blush : — 
1 During the late severe struggle for East Essex some scores op Liberal^; 
many of them members op Dissenting churches, voted for the two Tory can^ 
didates or plumped for one of them. The explanation of such disreputable 
conduct is found in the fact that most of these men had been pressed and -worried 
beyond all endurance by parson and landlord and customer. Amongst the last of 
those who voted at the Colchester booth 'on Thursday last was a member of \% 
k2 



268 
Dissenting Church who plumped for Bound! [Dreadful!] The bake 

STATEMENT OF THE HUMILIATING FACT IS THE STRONGEST INDICTMENT WE 

could frame against the man. He has proved false to the grand historic 
traditions of his denomination, and has disgraced the cause with which he pro- 
fesses to be identified. — Essex Telegraph. (Quoted in the English Independent.) 

While so fierce and rabid against men who use an independent 
judgment on the other side, they consider it a great crime in other 
people to imitate them in a very mild way. Thus, the following is 
quoted in the English Independent, Dec. 17, 1868: — 
,. The Manchester Guardian reports that an outrageous exhibition of party 
bigotry was witnessed on Sunday in St. Philip's Church, Salford. The Eev. F. 
Hains, of Wigan — a clergyman who has of late come somewhat prominently 
before the public as a supporter of Mr. Gladstone's measures — was announced to 
preach a sermon in aid of the Additional Curates' Fund. No interruption of any 
kind occurred during the prayers, but as the rev. gentleman was about to enter 
the pulpit some twenty or thirty persons rose and left the church, 
some of them on their way to the door shouting " No Popery." It is stated that 
the brawlers do not belong to the congregation. 

Now, if Mr. Hains had been a Dissenter and taken the other side, 
they would have turned him out of the pulpit, as they have done 
me, and they rejoice in the iniquity. 

But I am more concerned to warn Dissenters against another error 
and immediate danger, wherein their leaders, having given up their 
principles of voluntaryism, and agreed to accept state pay for deno- 
minational schools, can no more face a clergyman about the alleged 
State support of religion ; for all denominational schools are little 
State churches, and worse, because the Church has property, while 
taxes are forced out of the sinews of the people by compulsoryism. 

Now, as I demonstrated in " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland," 
—the Aytoun debate — that the suspensory statesmen, who deluded 
the Liberals, are ready to transfer Irish Church property to Romish 
denominational schools, which Mr. Beight expressly pleaded for, 
and Mr. Gladstone " refused outright" to vote against — what can 
we Dissenters say against endowing Popery in the form of schools, 
which are ecclesiastical nurseries, and feed monks and nuns, and 
starve the minds of the children, and blind their eyes in the most 
slavish depression impudently called education ? Now this is 
what the priests are clamouring for, and Mr. Gladstone has to 
satisfy them and "pacify Ireland," which means the priests, of 
whom the Saturday Review says, though it is Anti-Irish Church, 
"it is their business not to be content." 

Liberationist Dissenters have lost the power to speak against 
this endowment of popery: for Mr. Gladstone can say to Mr. 
Baines : — " You have taught me to do justice by equality in Ireland, 






269 

and now that you say that you will take state money for youe 
schools, would it be equality not to pacify the priest, with a share 
of the spoils ? 

Mr. Miall, who never had but one idea, and gave that up before 
going down to Bradford, now submits to Mr. Gladstone's " logic of 
events," and will have compulsory education. Homerton college, our 
Congregational training school, is now inspected and paid by govern- 
ment; and Mr. Baines, who like Mr. Miall spent his life in advo- 
cating what he is now repudiating, attended a meeting in Halifax, 
reported in the Leeds Mercury and the English Independent (Feb. 
11, 1869,) in favour of this institution, in which he said as chair- 
man : — " It had been found necessary to depart from the principle 
of voluntary action, on which the college was originally formed." 
And in this they depart from the principles on which Dissent is 
based, and by which alone we can consistently oppose the present 
demands of a hungry priesthood. Mr. Baines said " they had 
fought a noble battle on the highest principle,'" and in the same 
breath admits that he has nobly abandoned his high principle " and 
was ready to admit that they would have been more wise" if, like 
others, they had " taken Goveenment money feom the beginning." 
(English Independent, Feb. 11, 1869.) 

The Education Question is the most dangerous and the most important. 
It is here where the Papists are pressing in, and the Liberationist Dissenters are 
opening the door, though they know the danger, but from fidelity to their party 
they are faithless to then* principles. 

The English Independent states it clearly and betrays us as boldly. Eespecting 
the " No Popery" cry, it admits it to be good for Spain, while bad for England. 
So of the priestly education which Spain has repudiated, the same paper admits 
its badness for France, and winks at its introduction to Ireland and England. 
Speaking of the French Emperor's desire to weaken the power of the priesthood, 
this paper said :— " His obvious resource is education ; an education that shall 
not be controlled by the Church [of Eome] but by the State." "He encouraged 
throughout the empire classes for girls taught by laymen, as antidotes to the 
education of the convent, [which oub Government pays at Hull] hitherto [con- 
vents have been] the sole source of female instruction in France. This blow at 
the boot of theib poweb is furiously resented by the hierarchy. Dr. Cullen and 
Archbishop Longley denounce, the one, the Godless colleges, and the other, the 
attempt to sever religion [Romanism] from education." — English Independent, 
June 4, 1868. 

Now this acknowledged " root of the power" of the priesthood is not to receive 
a " blow" in Ireland, but a pension oat of the Protestant church's sequestrated 
property. This is the only plan brought out up to February, 1869, though this 
same paper says that " a mixed education" is the plan " that will countebvail 
the influence of the Romish peiesthood." (June 18, 1868.) Now the 
priests sre insisting on our abandoning this unpriestly education ; they claim a 
•' denominational" system, which Bright and Gladstone agreed to, one by silence, 
k3 



270 

the ether by speech, in ihe Aytoun debate ; and Liberation Dissenters not 
only back them, but set the priests the example of taking money for denomi- 
national schools. The Eev. C. Spurgeon saw the danger at the time, but has 
gone silent. However, the Rev. Mr. Arthur's " tongue of fire" will, I hope, 
warm the "Wesleyans, as he now says — what I said at first in " Gladstone and 
Justice to Ireland," — all which is coming true ; and those who were for a time 
duped by my interested liberation maligners, will turn from them to me, after an 
ancient example :— 

Unus homo nobis cunctando eonstituit rem : 

Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem, 

Ergo postque magisque virei nunc gloria claret.* 

He who did not place rumours, or immediate personal fame, before the public 
safety, is still a good example, and his followers being few must be distinguished. 

If my " Ejection" and another advocate's promotion, had not followed so 
quickly on the heels of our advocacy, it would have been more creditable to the 
authors of both. 

But I must still warn my countrymen if I lose my friends, who wanted me 
to "curse Israel," — to answer the Eev. J. D. Massingham, in Sheffield, on which 
condition the Eev. David Loxton offered to take the chair : as at other places I 
was written to and asked to buttress Mr. Gladstone's equivocal move, and was 
told how much it would be to my advantage. But I preferred to lose, and 
did lose, and do lose, and so far as Liberationists are concerned, should be 
lost and ruined. I preferred this, to bartering my honesty, in colleaguing 
with that temporary insanity into which leading dissenters were duping their 
followers. I recommend to the misleading spirits the question of old Ennius :— 
Quo vobis menteis, rectas quas stare solebant 
Ante hac, dementi sese flexere ruina ? t 

Even Samuel Morlet, Esq., M.P., who could not be professionally deposed 
and straitened in his means, was attacked in his character, because he, while 
going with the attack on the Irish church, did not think the same necessary 
in relation to the English church. 

It is true that in this respect Mr. Morlet agreed with the present " verbal 
utterances" of Mr. Gladstone, but then, as the English Independent intimated, 
Mr. Gladstone is in a •' suspensory" state, and by at present repudiating 
all intention of attacking the one, is the more able to depose the other ; and 
then will be prepared to obey further the "logic of events." 

The readiness of the Liberationists to back up the Eomanists is especially 
exemplified by Mr. Miall, of the Nonconformist, in which paper of October 
14-, 1868, he uttered these memorable words : — 

" We want to adopt a policy which will bear evidence upon the face of it ' 
that it has been framed with a view to satisfy Irish Eoman Catholic 
feeling-. It is their will, not our own, that we desire that policy to express." — 
Nonconformist, Oct 14. 

He told the people of Bradford that he " opposed the inspection of Nunneries'" : 
— those living tombs of deluded women, — and mentioned other things, saying 
" These are my titles to the political confidence of the Eoman Catholic Voters 
of Bradford." Are not these reasons for the Protestant voters withholding their 
confidence from these allies of the Papacy ? 

* Fragmenta Emm, Ex. xn. Annal. 

+ Fragment* Ex. t. AnnaL Iwb gJifgiil 



271 

This bold avowal of a desire to " satisfy Irish Roman Catholic feeling," 
is a proof of how far the Liberationists will go in liberating us from Protestantism. 
As for Dissent, which is based on Willinghood, and is a general principle of free 
trade, in opposition to protection, relying on free individual effort and responsi- 
bility, apart from Government force, favour, or pay, Mr. Miall has abandoned 
that. As I said in a letter to Mr. Morley — He never had but one idea, and 

HE HAS GIVEN THAT UP. 

Like Mr. Gladstone, he believes in repudiation of all that he has lived to 
advocate. This one idea was christened by him " Willinghood" : and he left 
his pulpit and the ministry to rock that baby in the Nonconformist cradle. But 
at Bradford he tells them that this baby is only a doll which he has been singing 
and talking to so long, and about which he wrote articles headed, " Take care of 
the baby." 

"When be gave up "willinghood" in education, he gave up the principle on 
which he had defended " willinghood" in religion : for these were his Siamese 
twins, and one cannot well survive the other. Education is to be supported for 
its moral effects, and his principle was, that Government is confined to material 
questions. 

He told them at Bradford that events had been too many for him ; which 
means that he succumbed to adverse opinion, and pocketed his principles for the 
sake of popularity. 

He is now for compulsion, on compulsion rather than on conviction. 

He proposed, and recorded his proposal of, a vote of confidence in two can- 
didates for Parliament, who had just avowed their disbelief in ' disestablishing 
the English church ;' the thing for which his paper was established. 

This parly condemned Mr. Moeley for saying the same thing that Mr. Miall 
said when he proposed confidence in two avowed State Churchmen. 

In a discussion on education, in the West-Riding Congregational 
Association, the Rev. David Loxton, of Sheffield, describing himself 
as "a fossil Dissenter," because holding to those principles which all 
other dissenting leaders are giving up, said : — " Dr. Falding had held 
that it was the duty of the State to create morality. If that was so, 

it Was ALSO THE DUTY OF THE STATE TO USE THE BEST INSTEUMENT it 

could to attain that end." He means religious establishments ; and 
added, ■" If they accepted State aid in their [denominational] 

SCHOOLS THEY CUT AWAY FROM BENEATH THEIR FEET THE GROUND 
ON WHICH THEY HAD BASED THEIR DISSENT." ( West-Ridilig Coiigre- 

gational Register for 1868.,) 

Now it was precisely on this principle that I opposed Mr. Glad- 
stone's scholastical policy and the priests' ecclesiastical demands ; 
yet for this alone, the speaker last quoted— a friend of thirty years- 
standing, cut his old companion and treats him as a moral leper, for 
carrying out what Mr. Loxton himself so earnestly professes to 
believe. If this ministerial brother, after so long and intimate a 
friendship, should go mourning all his days and be sleepless half his 
nights during my wicked revolt against Mr. Gladstone, which "none 



272 

lamented more" than another dear friend on the Union committee 
—if the greatest liberal in Sheffield was too full for utterance when 
I went up to shake hands with him, what could be expected from 
his " weaker brethren," such as the Eev. J. P. Gledstone, as well 
as some outside our denomination among the other liberal branches ? 

It is sometimes grotesque enough to see the mighty fine airs 
with which some, with whom I have been too familiar — for the 
most conceited know that I never treated a puffed-up brother 
with the contempt he deserved — besides that I aided many a 
brother in difficulty as they all know ; — but as I was saying, it is 
grotesque to see a-well-got up young man who once could at least 
smirk if not smile a greeting across the road, now raise his head — 
erect, if not filled — over " that column of true majesty in man" 
called the spinal column ; and, with that feature of the countenance 
— which in some is the leading one, and by which others are led, 
carefully poised between horizontal and perpendicular, and the 
whites of the upturned eyes visible, — all as an attitude of appeal 
to heaven that the important individual so attitudinizing, perfectly 
but humbly coincides with the Almighty, in any judgments which 
may be inflicted on the sinful brother opposite, with whose inde- 
pendence and consistency he has no sympathy, and in which, God 
knows he has no share. 

There are exceptions, but I dare not name them, or they would 
be like "Sister Scholastica " among the " Re vd. Mothers " who 
preside over the " sister churches." 

But I will mention one who is beyond being injured in his pro- 
fession, having retired from it — the Rev. Chakles Lakom, the 
respected Baptist minister, who has seen so many come and go, but 
who always was a brother, even when his long standing and charac- 
ter gave him the position of a father in the ministry. 

There is one other thing to notice — that both locally and nation- 
ally, the Liberationists have seen the necessity of not accepting my 
public offer to prove on any platform, against any gentleman the 
Liberation society might select, or in any liberal paper, in alternate 
letters, this thesis — " That no Dissenter, Liberationism Liberal, or 
Patriot, can honestly and intelligently go with Mr. Gladstone in his 
Irish Church gyrations." 

If this position were weak, or I were too weak to hold it, they 
would have assailed it : — but they assail me instead, in public papers 
and by private slanders and insults, and finally by that shameful 
ejection, which I trust may be rescinded ; and that by denomina- 
tional opinion and national opinion, as well as by public law, I may 



273 

he both restored and compensated for this persecution, the resort 
and refuge of those who so violate their principles. I have been 
compared by contrast to Abdiel as ' faithless ' among the ' faithful; ' 
but Milton's lines will be restored : 

" Faithful among the faithless, faithful only he." 

For who now are renegades — who are consistent Dissenters — those 
who so cruelly cried down Dr. Vattghan for advocating State education, 
and now equally cry me down for opposing it in Mr. Gladstone's 
sop to Popery ; or I, who never changed a principle that I ever 
held, but lost my way for honesty, both in defending our old prin* 
oiples of orthodoxy and opposing our new principles of tyranny ? 

Now all Dissenters are prepared to touch the public money, and 
so give a valid liberal argument of equality on behalf of the priest 
and his school, whose cry is for " denominational education," 
called by statesmen — " Irish purposes," to which the proposed dis- 
endowment of the Irish Church is to contribute so handsomely. Is 
it not " time to awake out of sleep ? " The Dissenters, who take a 
few pence and give the priest an argument for a few pounds, not 
only play the Pope's game, but with his methods — of stern, secret, 
unrelenting persecution. I hope my own denomination will aid me 
in providing means for the prosecution of those officials who enslave 
them and depose me ; and that, tried by their own principles in an 
impartial court of law, their condemnation will be a vindication of 
our principles, as not permitting such execution by a secret conclave 
of Congregational cardinals, nor even allowing " a mob of priests " 
with impunity to assassinate one who would fetch the jewel of the 
State's supremacy from the keeping of usurping ecclesiastics. 



Chapter XXXI. 
EEV. DE. FALDING, DISTEICT SECEETAEY. 

" TO THE EEV. F. J. FALDING, D.D. 

"Dear Sir, — I find that by an alteration of the rules respecting 
the list of Congregational ministers — for which alteration the 
committee of the Congregational Union is responsible — it is left 
solely to the secretary of the district to omit sending any minister's 
name, and by that omission to remove such minister from the 
alphabetical list of accredited Congregational ministers. 

"In the Sheffield Union meeting, 1866, you desired that this ex- 
clusion might be performed by "a divided authority;" that is, you 



274 

did not wish the whole responsibility of such a proceeding to rest 
on you. But by the new method it is thrown on you ; and what, is 
more, if I may rely on the returns, as published in this Year Bocfe 
you have accepted that responsibility, for, while sending up three 
names as of ministers resident in the district, without "pastoral 
charge," you have omitted my name ; and so have contributed to 
what the English Independent, I think, calls a "judicious weeding" 
the list of ministers. 

"Kow.it is true that I have offended some more liberal brethren 
by not agreeing with Mr. Gladstone's uncertain Irish Church policy; 
but this scarcely seems a sufficient reason for being excluded from 
the list of Congregational ministers^ " 

"It is also true that I differed from you in the case of Mr. 
Vaughan ; but as Dr. Smith said of Mr. Ashton in that matter, | ' No 
one could imagine that a name would be omitted from any private 
pique or prejudice," I give you the same credit; and as in the 
report in this Year Book Dr. Smith said " it was left to the district 
secretary, "as " providing for the removal of none without a sufficient 
reason," I beg to be informed what your reason was for omitting iny 
name. 

"Pardon me for adding that _..you are responsible to me, to £&$ 
denomination, to the Christian public at large, and let me say in all 
charity, that you are responsible to Christ, for either doing 'this 
extraordinary act, or for permitting your name as secretary to stand 
at the head of a list supposed to. come from you, from which. my 
name is excluded. 

" It is for you to repudiate or justify the course for which your. 
name is publicly employed as the guarantee. 

" I regard this as a very serious matter, in which your own 
honour and that of our denomination is involved. 

" I need not say that the question cannot rest where it is: and 
that such a reward for independence in defending the truth of the 
gospel against Neological protesters and a heretical professor, and 
defending Protestantism against the combination of infidels, priests, 
liberals, and equivocal statesmen, will not redound to the credit of 
those who, while professing to be the special friends of freedom, 
% use their liberty as a cloak of maliciousness.' — (I Pet. ii. 16.) 

"It will be agreeable to me to be able to exonerate you from tjais 
odious act of private irresponsible tyranny, the illegal power to 
do which is put into your hands by the committee of the Congre- 
gational Union, contrary to the decision of the assembly in London, 
1868, and in contravention of the resolution passed in Sheffield? 
1866, ivhich has never been carried out. 



275 

"It is with the utmost regret and shame that I write this of the 
conduct of Christian ministers, towards one whose only fault, so 
far as they are concerned, is — forgive the boast— that he has done 
and suffered more for Christianity in England than even the chief 
among them, though as in the sight of God he be as nothing. 

*-« I await your answer, which I trust may be satisfactory, so far 
as your part in this matter is concerned. 

"Yours faithfully, 
nsraiieid i " BREWIN GRANT." 

V\go$oq __ — 

Dr. Fai/ding's Reply. 

"Rotherham College, Jan. 13, 1669. 

Xi Sir, — I know nothing about the removal of your name from the 
list of accredited ministers in the Congregational Year Book. I was 
not aware that it had been removed until informed by your letter. 
I Have accepted no responsibility whatever for the contents of the 
Year Book, nor had I anything to do with the removal of Mr. 
Vaughan's name from that list. In connection with this last- 
named matter, I gave you the opportunity of satisfying yourself by 
a personal interview. You did not think proper to avail yourself of 
the invitation. I now renew it, and am, Sir, yours faithfullv, 

«'F. Si FALDING. 
aMl'Rev. B- Grant, B.A., Sheffield." 
fto&te 

As this carefully avoided the real question, while seeming so fully 
to answer it, I wrote this 

Second Letter to Dr. Falding. 

« Sheffield, Jan. 14, 1869. 

" Dear Sir, — -I thank you for your reply, and shall be further 
obliged when you inform me whether you had been told of the new 
rule made by the Congregational Union committee and printed in 
the Year Book for 1869, p. 400 :-—' No names are allowed to 
appear but those which are returned to the editor by the secretaries 
of county associations,' &c. The list is described as of ' Indepen- 
dent ministers, &c, whose names have been furnished by secretaries 
of county associations,' &c. 

" From this list my name is omitted, as not having been 'fur- 
nished' by you. I assume from your letter that you were not aware 
that this would be the effect of your omission ; and since it is so 
used, to my detriment and your discredit, it is for you to repudiate 
such employment of your name. Your letter does not meet this 
point : — Did you intend, or do you still desire, that any act or 



276 

omission on your part should be the ground for, or defence of, the 
committee's action in regard to me? That you 'have accepted 
no responsibility whatever for the contents of the Year Book' can 
scarcely be correct, when you are responsible for the names in this 
district, and are published as such. 

" I do not know whether your proposal of ' a personal interview' 
may refer to this or to Mr. Yaughan's case ; but when a plain 
denial of the crime which the Year Book fixes on you would be 
accepted as an exoneration, if you cannot give this in writing, then 
a private conversation would be as wide of the mark as your letter 
appears to be. 

" As no doubt you intended that letter to show your innocence, 
you will complete your vindication by an answer that admits of but 
one interpretation. The point for you to answer is stated above. 

"Awaiting that answer, I remain yours faithfully, 

"BREWIN GRANT." 

" P.S. — After stating that ' No names of ministers are allowed to 
appear but those which are returned to the editor by secretaries,' &c, 
Mr. Ashton, the editor, adds, — ' The preparation of the returns has 
been made this year in accordance with this rule.' 

" This accuses you of wilfully causing the omission of my name 
from the Year Book." 

The above postscript was sent January 15. ' . ■ . ■ 



the rev. dr. falding s second reply. 

Rotherham College, Jan. 18th, 1869. 
" Sir, — I think my letter to you '. admits of only one interpreta- 
tion" as it stands; but as you think otherwise, I will use your 
own words : — I ' did ' not ' intend,' nor ' do ' I ' still desire that 
any act or omission on ' my * part should be the ground for a 
defence of the committee's action in regard to' you ; all of which I 
said more clearly and strongly in the words of my letter :— i I know 
nothing about the removal of your name from the list of accredited 
ministers in the Congregational Year Book :' in fact, the idea of 
removing, or in any way causing the removal of you name, never 
entered my mind or ' desire' at all. That ' I have accepted no 
responsibility whatever for the contents of the Year Book' is (!) 
1 correct.' As to the new rule made by the Congregational Union 
committee, and printed in the Year Book for 1869, 1 never heard of 
its existence, until I read it in your letters of the 15th and 16th 
inst., and have never been told that such a rule was likely to be 
made. 



'277 

" Yon seem to differ from me as to the use of a personal interview 
for which I have given you opportunity. I presumed that that 
was the best way to arrive at a manly and honest understanding 
and settlement on both sides. You appear to prefer a method 
which can most readily be turned to one-sided account in pamphlets. 

AND NEWSPAPEKS. 

"I am, Sir, yours truly, 

" F. J. FALDING." 



Answer to Dr. Falding's Second Reply. 

"Sheffield, January 19, 1869. 

" Dear Sir, — Your second letter entirely exonerates you from 
having wilfully acted under the new rule, according to which 
Mr. Ashton said the returns were made. 

" There remains now that other question which I have put in 
several forms. Did you return to Mr. Ashton, as a list of ministers 
resident in this district, with or without pastoral charge, one from 

WHICH MY NAME WAS OMITTED? 

" You are represented as having done so in the printed returns* 
Do you still permit yourself to be represented as my private pro- 
fessional executioner ? Was this your act and deed ? 

" If I seem to trouble you too much, pray remember that I am 
fighting for life and reputation, through an act of which the Year 
Booh accuses you, on your own authority, and by which the editor 
excuses himself. 

" You have already distinctly answered his accusation, that he 
had your authority for striking my name out of the general list : 
will you now equally exonerate yourself from his printed accusa- 
tion, that you set him the example by omitting me from the local 
list? "Yours faithfully, 

" The Rev. F. J. Falding, D.D." " Brewin Grant." 

" P.S. — The last 1 Congregational Register for the West Riding 
of Yorkshire,' (p. 114) also accuses you, as secretary of the district, 
of omitting my name from your returns, which may have happened 
in the case of Mr. Yaughan ; although his name, like mine, was 
put by the editor into the general alphabetical list." 



" Rotherham College, 

January 27, 1869. 
" Sir, — You have never before asked me the ' question' in any 
form which in your letter of the 19th instant you say you ' have 
put in several forms.' 



278 

H You have assumed that I have 'omitted' something which! 
ought not to have omitted, and you have charged me with having 
done so, but on this occasion as on a previous one, you first accuse 
and then enquire. 

"Yet as you have now asked the question, I will answer it also. 

"I have not omitted your name from any list on which it had a 
right to stand. amosssq 

II At the last meeting of the Sheffield and Doncaster District of 
the West Riding Congregational Union and Home Mission Society; 
held in Howard-street chapel, Sheffield, on March 9th, 1868 y and 
very fully attended by the ministers and delegates of the district, I 
prepared in open meeting a list containing the names of churches 
and ministers, being members of the West Riding Congregational 
Union, within the district. This list, made out in the meeting, was 
read aloud, and received the authority and sanction of the whole 
meeting. 

r- il It contained neither your name nor that of the church of which 
you were then pastor, and for the reason then and there publicly 
stated. The list was required, by the rules of the society and by the 
instruction of the general secretary, to be a list exclusively of 
ministers and churches in actual membership with the Union, and 
as you were not a member of the Union your name was not 
placed on the list. 

"That you were not in membership, and consequently that your 
name was not included in the list, was entirely and solely your own 
doing. Previous to the meeting the general secretary wrote twice 
to you, and I as district secretary once, to call your attention to the 
rules of the society, and to request you to inform us whether you 
intended to comply with them and so qualify for membership, but 
neither of us received any reply from you, and you never complied 
with the rules and never joined the society. For that reason, and 
that alone, as publicly stated in the meeting, your church and your- 
self were not entered on the list prepared for publication under the 
care of the general secretary. You will find the rules in accord- 
ance with which this was done, in the West Riding Congregational 
Register for 1868, pages 184-5, together with the regulations of the 
executive committee, pages 48-9, &c. ; also lists on pages 114 and 
116. [wfliuntft 

"To transmit the list thus prepared and authorised by the district 
meeting to the general secretary, is the only thing I was bound to do, 
and I did transmit it intact, to be subjected to his revision and use 
in his preparation for the register. But I did more ; I returned 






279 

your name and that of your church and did not ' omit' it- in a 
smaller list of churches and ministers resident in the district but 
not members of the Union, If you had not resigned your pastoral 
charge in the interval between my sending the list and the printing 
of the register, your name would have appeared both in the list of 
churches on page 114 and in the alphabetical list on page 116. I 
presume it was subsequently struck out by the editor after your 
resignation, but inserted in the alphabetical list, with the usual mark 
to denote a minister without charge. 

" In the same way later in the year in November I think, I 
returned your name to the editor of the Year Book. In the usual 
schedule furnished by him I wrote your name as having resigned 
your church, as living in the district, but as not being a member of 
the county association. Why your name nowhere appears in the 
Year Book, I have already said, I know not. 

"Had you attended the district meeting referred to as you might 
have done, or had you called upon me to enquire on the matter, 
this correspondence might have been spared. At all events I pre- 
sume you will neither expect nor desire that I should continue it. 

'• I am, Sir, yours truly, 

Ion 8J . J - *AUDlJNlx. 

" P.S. — I ought, perhaps, in my second letter, to have mentioned 
the possibility of some notice having been sent me by printed cir- 
cular, of the adoption of the new regulations contained in the 1869 1 
Year Book. This possibility did not occur to me when writing, as 
I have no recollection of any information being sent to me. And 
this does not affect my statement. If my consent to the regulations 
had been asked previously to their adoption and publication 1 I 
should have declined to give it. And when they are published 
without my knowledge, I do not accept any responsibility which 
they may seem to throw on the district secretaries." 

sift lehan aoiihi' - , 

V Sheffield, Jan. 30th, 1869. 

"Dear Sir, — Your extra delay, and the unhappy and unhand- 
some conclusion of your second letter, caused me to despair of 
receiving a third, which, however, came to hand last night. The 
form in which I put the question to you before was, whether you 
would still permit your name to appear as secretary to a list from 
which mine is excluded. I told you that you were responsible, 
either for doing the act or for permitting your name to be employed 
to sanction it. 



280; 

"You 'first denied all knowledge of the ' rule * by which your 
omission to name me on the local list would remove my name 
from the category of Independent ministers in England. I accepted 
your word. I then asked, whether you did send a list without my 
name. I did not ' accuse and then enquire.' I told you that Mr. 
Ashton accused you of having made your returns on this new 
principle, and further, that the ' West Riding Register' and the 
* Congregational Year Book' both accused you of omitting my name 
from those of ministers in your district, and that Me. Ashton's 
Year Book justified the excommunication of me on the ground of 
your local returns, to which your name is appended as guarantee. 
I asked whether you were guilty of this. You in effect not only 
say 'No,' but you accuse the Rev. Robert Ashton, editor of the 
Year Book, and the Rev. J. Hughes Morgan, editor of the West 
Riding Register, of falsifying your reports. I accept your account 
and shall apply to them. 

" But as your name still stands to both accounts, and now with 
your knowledge, by which you publicly endorse what you privately 
repudiate, you are legally and morally responsible for the conse- 
quences of allowing your name to deceive the public and to injure 
me. 

" Dr Parker, to whom you expressed yourself as 'personally 
grateful for the terms' in which he proposed a resolution for enquiry 
—in which speech he sold me, to buy off you and Mr. Ashton, 
— said : ' the removal of a name [from the list of ministers] 
amounted to ministerial deposition; was, in fact, a species of 
excommunication, fraught with the gravest consequences to individual 
ministers. 

" These ' consequences' I am suffering, and your name is used as 
the pretext and instrument of infliction. This is the only pretext, 
and you know it, and you say that the pretext is false. All that you 
have to do, therefore, to escape the odium and danger into which 
you are brought, by publicly sanctioning what you privately deny, 
is to purge yourself from legal and moral complicity, by no longer 
being guilty, through permission and compliance, in the allowed 
public use of your name. The act in which you at present publicly 
conspire takes the gospel out of my mouth and the bread out of my 
children's ; and you stand silently by, consenting to and sharing in the 
deed. Your reference to a meeting of delegates is an irrelevance, 
aud no public reading of a list of your subscribing members would 
justify you or any one else in saying that I am not a Congregational 
minister residing in the district. 



281 

" Your final declaration that you do \ not accept the responsi- 
bility which they [the new rules] seem to throw on the secretaries/ 
will not pass either for law or gospel. Whether I expect or desire 
you to continue this correspondence is of no moment ; it is your 
own concern whether you will still stand before the world as signing 
that act of my * ministerial deposition,' for which nothing but your 
name is the guarantee, against which you protest privately, — in every 
degree of emphasis, — you had no hand in. Your name is your 
hand, by which you perpetrate the act, till you publicly purge 
yourself from what you privately deny and openly sanction. 

Yours faithfully, 

BEEWIN GEANT. 
"The Eev. F. J. Falding, D.D." 



" Eotherham College, Feb. 9, 1869. 

" Sir, — I beg to acknowledge } r our last letter. Having answered 
at least every question which you had a right to put, I decline to 
notice the twisting of words and perversion of facts contained in 
your letters. 

" I have permitted myself to enter into this correspondence not 
because I thought for a moment that you cared to know the truth or 
justice of the matter, nor because I cared to ward off from myself 
the abuse which you seem to find pleasure in uttering, but because 
I thought it right to shew the hollowness of your pretence of being 
persecuted on account of any opinions which you have chosen to 
advocate. For this reason I shall feel at liberty to publish this 
correspondence if at any time I think proper to do it. 

" I am, Sir, yours truly, 

« F. J. FALDING." 



" Dear Sir, — I have received your letter begun ' February 9th,' 
and finished for post late on February 11th, and I am obliged by 
the proof which it affords of what it denies, namely, that I am 
\ persecuted on account of any opinions I have chosen to advocate.' 
I equally thank you for contradicting yourself again in the absurd 
observation, after a lengthened incubation, that you f decline to 
notice the twisting of words and perversion of facts contained in my 
letters.' Perhaps I had better explain that this was ' noticing,' or 
rather inventing, such 'perversions.' I am more particularly grateful 



282 

for your frankness in telling me that yon did ' not think for a moment 
that I cared to know the truth or justice of the matter.' No doubt 
you dictated this from that critical maxim, ' Look into your own 
heart and write.' 

Your liberty to publish this correspondence may be turned into 
compulsion, as you join those two rev. mothers, Mrs. Star and Mrs. 
M'Owne. If you destroy these letters, as they did certain documents, 
for conscience sake, I have your originals and my copies. 

" You are still convicted out of your own mouth of permitting 
your name publicly to cover my ' ministerial deposition, ' while in 
private you repudiate what you openly perpetrate by conniving at. 
Wishing for you more facility and better temper in answering 
letters, I remain yours, faithfully, 

« BREWIN GRANT." 

'. I tadi ila 

ifiWOi 
&ENVOI. 

I cannot help thinking that some of my readers will wish to know 
after all, how I am placed, and what I purpose doing. It is to such 
friendly ears that I make this frank confession : — This book does 
not express, nor can any book, the deep darkness and almost agony 
which for some time I experienced, after my return from prostrating 
labours, and dangers, and " perils among false brethren," a fortnight 
before Christmas. Nothing but blackness was before me. My 
preaching was gone, on which I had relied for half my support in 
my general public ministry. My character was gone, so far as such 
persons as edit our semi-denominational papers, the Nonconformist 
and the English Independent, and the baser Sheffield one, could 
warp the minds of Dissenters, by what Mr. Miall calls, and knows — 
" unscrupulous venomousness ; " not one of whom dare represent me 
truly or let me represent myself in his columns. Besides these, 
such speakers as had made themselves prominent in glorifying Mr. 
Gladstone's policy, of which they are still ignorant, were bound 
both not to meet me in argument, and to justify their cowardice by 
their malice in maligning me. Not only was my good name gone — 
as it then seemed to me in that darkness — so far as the denomination 
was concerned in and for which I had laboured, and whose principles 
I held and hold — but my means were gone, my pocket was empty, 
and so far as the sale of myself for tory gold was concerned, I was a 
hundred pounds out of pocket for extensive printing and gratuitous 
circulation of papers, and other incidental expenses. 






283 

As to the future, and as a minister, my "way was blocked up ; and 
I should have been more painfully straitened if, during my bard 
tour of lecturing, my son, some months under his majority, had not 
taken my pecuniary affairs into his own hands, and raised my terms 
for lecturing, which then scarcely covered my travelling expenses. 
I owe to the same fealty, the management of my correspondence, 
answering some seven hundred letters of subscribers, and making 
all business arrangements for the issue of this volume, in all which 
matters I should have been inextricably confused. The darkness and 
difficulties above referred to, occurred before it came out that the 
conspiracy would culminate in my formal exclusion, by the Congrega- 
tional Union, from the list of accredited Congregational ministers. 
That act, for my ruin, will, by the blessing of God, awakening the 
sympathy of man, be my salvation. 

As my health gradually recovered, my mind cleared : a few friends, 
all that I had opportunity of calling on, contributed something 
towards my losses. I began to feel that there was hope yet ; and 
the definite form which the persecution of me by Liberationists 
had assumed, gave me a plain mark to shoot at, and a visible enemy, 
which aroused my courage, and I felt that the darkness was past. 
I blessed God and took heart. 

But during the writing of my life, besides two cases of illness 
among my children, one of which in particular excited my fears, 
there was another cloud still blacker, but happily temporary, as the 
one who had shared my fortunes, and more than half supported our 
family by her own, fell into a low nervous way, and seemed struck 
with a panic fear, after I had recovered ; and the forebodings which 
for a little time came upon me, and which I dared not then utter to 
my family, and which they will see only in print, made me for a 
time fear to write, lest the bitterness of this new calamity, which in 
my mind I attributed to the conspirators, should tinge my book — 
which indeed could not have been finished if I had not been merci- 
fully delivered both from the fear and from what I feared. 

I wish every Dissenting minister had as good a house and house- 
hold as we have hitherto been able to maintain, in moderate com- 
fort, and in a peace and mutual love which can be surpassed in no 
house this side heaven. 

God has mercifully preserved us from being broken in upon again 
by the dreaded visitor, and I doubt not He will raise friends to help 
me to keep necessity at the staff's end, and enable me to maintain 
the honourable position of an Independent Ministek in every sense. 
As a pledge of this, among eighteen letters ordering copies of my 



284 



Autobiography, which have come in this morning, March 1, 1889, 
whilst I was writing the preceding sentences, was the following : — 



" February 27- 

" My dear Friend, — The letter sent to you by Mr. Ashton is not 
true, as you will see from the enclosed. [From the Rev. Dr. Smith, 
Union secretary.] Dr. Smith must know 'the course which had 
been previously pursued ;' you will see that he [Dr. Smith] wrote 
to me in reply to a letter of mine, of the 20th of January, saying^ 
— that ip youe name had been sent up [by Dr. Falding, who 
who says he sent it] it would have been inserted. 

" I feel very much disgraced and humbled to think that such a 
cruel and nasty job can be done by the angels of our churches. I 

have a letter from P who says it looks very queer, * * says 

the business ought not to have been done. 

" I have spoken to many about the matter, and they one and all 
complain of the transaction. 

" I Shall BE GLAD TO CONTEIBUTE TO THE FUND FOR BRINGING 
THE WHOLE MATTER BEFORE THE PUBLIC. 

" Yours truly " 



* 18, South-street, Finsbury, January 20th, 1869. 

To , Esq. 

Dear Sir, — Tour note has been forwarded to Bournemouth, where I am re- 
maining on account of my health. In answer to your enquiry, I beg to say that 
Mr. Ashton, the editor of the Year Book, inserts in the lists the names only of 

those MINISTEES WHO AEE RETURNED BY THE SECRETAEIES of COUnty and other 

associations as recognised ministers within their bounds. If Me. Grant's 
name had been eetuened from Yorkshire, it would have been inserted in 
the county and alphabetical list. — I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 

g. SMITH. 

N.B. — Dr. Smith neither saves himself, nor Mr. Ashton, nor the committee 
by this implied conteadiction of Dr. Falding's professions, which a district 
meeting lately accepted as his exoneration, though that meeting was too slavish 
or tyrannical to protest against the illegality and cruelty of the act which they 
were ashamed of being directly implicated in. Whether the name was sent up 
or not, the erasion of it was a crime and a sin, by the laws of the land, the 
laws of the Union, and the laws of God. 

My correspondent assumes that Mr. Ashton had received my name, and even 
then suppressed it, contrary to the new rule alleged for " the previous course ;" Dr. 
Smith assumes that it was not received "from Yorkshire," that is from Dr. 
Falding ; let them wriggle together. 

" These haunted men will never lay 
The ghosts" of "Bivers, Vaughan and Gray." 
Grant and Shakespere, Richard iii, Act i, Scene iii ; Actv. Scene iii. 



285. 

. This is from a friend who is a hot Gladstonian, but a real liberal, 
and I believe that Providence sent this letter while I was writing 
this appeal, to give me a pledge and earnest, that ■ nothing shall 
harm you if ye be followers of that which is good. ' 

- In this case sympathy means a subscription, which I believe will 
come from the poor and the rich, from a few stamps to a few 
pounds, to aid me both in advertising my book and the case, and 
writing other things, and in sustaining me while thus engaged, and in 
enabling me to draw up a case for legal opinion, providing fees for 
counsel, and promises towards a prosecution fund, to be paid to an 
appointed receiver, in case counsel's opinion justifies legal action. 

With thanks to the many friends who have subscribed for 
nearly a thousand copies of this Autobiography, and devout over- 
swelling gratitude to that providence which has carried me no less 
through this writing than through the scenes which it describes, I 
commend this book and the reader to the blessing of Almighty God. 
The course of my past life is traced in this Autobiography ; as to 
the future and what '• inward ripeness" may be attained, is, I hope, 
described by the immortal bard, who paid the penalty for " Liberty's 
defence ; his " noble task, with which all Europe rung from side to 
side : — 






"Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, 
" It shall be still in strictest measure even 

" To that same lot, however mean or' high, 
" Towards which time leads me, and the will of heaven ; 
"All is, if I have grace to use it so, 

" As ever in my great Task-master's eye." 

In relation to the dangers which threaten our country from 
our unhappy divisions fomented by our enemies, — the friends of 
superstition, I beseech the reader to join me heartily in the follow- 
ing supplication : — 

Thou, Who art the Father of Lights, Who hast condescended 
to shine into this world, not only to remove the natural chaos, but 
that moral darkness which overspread the earth, mercifully grant 
that the priests of superstition — the blind leaders of the blind — who 
obstruct the rays of Thy truth, and cover the eyes of men with a 
cloud of ignorance, may themselves be illuminated with the light 
of Thy glorious gospel ; and that those, hitherto led in darkness, 



286 



through the ignorance that is in them, may be translated out of 
the darkness of papal error into the kingdom of Thy dear Son ! 

May this dear land of freedom, bathed in marvellous light, not 
again be overshadowed with that train of errors which once darkened 
the firmament and hid the Sun of Righteousness in a total eclipse of 
heathenish night : let not the locusts, coming into this our Eden 
and second paradise of gospel delights— in which is every tree good 
for food and pleasant to the eye — settle down and march on, having 
before them the garden of the Lord, behind them a desert ; but 
may a mighty wind, as of Thine all-reviving and sustaining Spirit, 
sweep back this devouring army of Egyptian locusts ; and, filling 
Thy people with joy for Thy interposing Providence, inspire them 
with that gratitude and watchfulness by which they shall not only 
dress and keep this land, uprooting every weed, but send forth 
the seed of Thy truth to be sown in every barren place, so tl^at 
when He shall come Who will gather the wheat into His garner, 
when the angels shall put in the sickle, and the harvest of tfye 
world will be ripe, a large ingathering may be made " into the 
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

. ■ 

Broomhall Park, Sheffield, 
March 1, 1869. 



- 

PAWSON AND BRAILSFORD, PRINTERS, MULBERRY- ST., SHEFFIELD. 



ADVERTISEMENTS* 



i ____ _ ; ^ 

BY POST FKOM THE AUTHOE. 

For Three Stamps, 

"THE PURPLE ROBE*" 

Or, RITUALISM A MOCKERY OF CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY, 

Being a corrected Report of a Lecture on the tenets of the 
ANGLICAN JESUITS. 

, _ i j — 

For Fourteen Stamps, 

The following Set of three, giving the full detail of the course of 

the Godwinian Controversy on New College Theology : — 

I. The Kiss of Betrayal ; or the New Defence of Heresy 

on the Plea of Devoutness and Courtesy. 
II. The Crisis of New College : is it to be handed over to 

THE NOELOGISTS ? 

: 

ILL. The New College Surrender and Compromise. 
For Six Stamps, 

"THE PARTICULAR CASE" 

- 

FOR CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISTS. 
A full account of the Union's Treatment of the late Rev. Isaac Vaughan. 



For Six Stamps, 

GLADSTONE AND JUSTICE TO IRELAND 

THE LIBERAL CRY;EXAMINED ON LIBERAL PRINCIPLES. 

N.B. — This is what the Author was "cast out of the Synagogue" for. 



Address the Rey. BREWIN GRANT, B.A., 

Brocmhall Park, Sheffield. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



BY POST FKOM THE ATJTHOE. 

For Twenty-four Stamps, Red Edges, Gilt Letters, 

"A NEW BEGINNING EOB NEW BEGINNEBS/ 

FIVE INAUGURAL DISCOURSES 

DELIVERED BY 

THE REV. BEE WIN GRANT, B.A., 

In the Congregational New Church, Cemetery-road, Sheffield. 



Contents : 
I. Eliezer ; an Example to Ministers. — Gen. xxiv., 12. 
II. Mutual Benediction ; a Model for Congregations.— 
Psalm xx., 1 — 4. 

III. Timely Help ; or, a Friend in Need.— Rom. v., 6. 

IV. Hagar in the Desert. — Gen. xxi., 19. 
V. The Plan op Salvation. — Acts, iii., 26. 

For Six Stamps, 

« WHICH SIDE SHALL WE JOIN: 

THE RITUALISTS OR THE EVANGELICALS ?" 

A Lecture delivered in the Cutlers' Hall, Sheffield, February, 1868, 
on the only true " English Church Union" of all Christian 
Denominations against Superstition and Despotism. 



AddreBS the Rev, BREWIN GRANT, B.A., 

,Broomhall Park, Sheffield. 



H 15 4 82 '' 






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